Impact of smoking habits on cardiovascular and neoplastic events and all-cause death in people living with HIVfrom the STOPSHIV cohort.

Objective: The study aimed to assess the impact of smoking exposure on major clinical events (MCE) in a real-life setting of people living with HIV (PWH).

Design: Observational longitudinal multicentre cohort study from Italy.

Methods: Consecutive 983 PWH were enrolled in "STOP Smoking in HIV people" (STOPSHIV) projects and followed from July 2014 until September 2023.

Protective role of SARS-CoV-2 anti-S IgG against breakthrough infections among European healthcare workers during pre and post-Omicron surge-ORCHESTRA project.

Purpose: Anti SARS-CoV-2 vaccination initially showed high effectiveness in preventing COVID-19. However, after the surge of variants of concern, the effectiveness dropped. Several studies investigated if this was related to the decrease of the humoral response over time; however, this issue is still unclear.

Determinants of Anti-S Immune Response at 12 Months after SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in a Multicentric European Cohort of Healthcare Workers-ORCHESTRA Project.

Background: The effectiveness of the immunity provided by SARS-CoV-2 vaccines is an important public health issue. We analyzed the determinants of 12-month serology in a multicenter European cohort of vaccinated healthcare workers (HCW).

Methods: We analyzed the sociodemographic characteristics and levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike antibodies (IgG) in a cohort of 16,101 vaccinated HCW from eleven centers in Germany, Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.

Incidence and Determinants of Symptomatic and Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infections After Booster Dose in a Large European Multicentric Cohort of Health Workers-ORCHESTRA Project.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections (BI) after vaccine booster dose are a relevant public health issue.

Methods: Multicentric longitudinal cohort study within the ORCHESTRA project, involving 63,516 health workers (HW) from 14 European settings. The study investigated the cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 BI after booster dose and its correlation with age, sex, job title, previous infection, and time since third dose.

Phospholipid fatty acid remodeling and carbonylated protein increase in extracellular vesicles released by airway epithelial cells exposed to cigarette smoke extract.

Cigarette smoke (CS) represents one of the most relevant environmental risk factors for several chronic pathologies. Tissue damage caused by CS exposure is mediated, at least in part, by oxidative stress induced by its toxic and pro-oxidant components. Evidence demonstrates that extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by various cell types exposed to CS extract (CSE) are characterized by altered biochemical cargo and gained pathological properties.

Chronic use of cigarettes and late diagnosis of bullous emphysema in a smoker of marijuana and tobacco.

Unconventional inhaled therapy as a treatment for respiratory diseases became very common during the 19th century. Here, we present the case of a 52-year-old patient who smoked cigarettes, tobacco cigarettes, and cannabis, with only an early diagnosis of asthma. The patient was admitted to our hospital with acute respiratory syndrome, characterized by worsening dyspnea, cough, and an acute episode of dyspnea and chest tightness.

SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infections: Incidence and Risk Factors in a Large European Multicentric Cohort of Health Workers.

Background: The research aimed to investigate the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections and their determinants in a large European cohort of more than 60,000 health workers.

Methods: A multicentric retrospective cohort study, involving 12 European centers, was carried out within the ORCHESTRA project, collecting data up to 18 November 2021 on fully vaccinated health workers. The cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections was investigated with its association with occupational and social-demographic characteristics (age, sex, job title, previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, antibody titer levels, and time from the vaccination course completion).

Short-Term Effects of Side-Stream Smoke on Nerve Growth Factor and Its Receptors TrKA and p75 in a Group of Non-Smokers.

Environmental tobacco smoke remains a major risk factor, for both smokers and non-smokers, able to trigger the initiation and/or the progression of several human diseases. Although in recent times governments have acted with the aim of banning or strongly reducing its impact within public places and common spaces, environmental tobacco smoke remains a major pollutant in private places, such as the home environment or cars. Several inflammatory and long-term biomarkers have been analysed and well-described, but the list of mediators modulated during the early phases of inhalation of environmental tobacco smoke needs to be expanded.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and work-related stress in Umbrian healthcare workers during Phase 1 in Italy.

Background: Depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and poor sleep quality increased in healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study was to assess levels of psychological distress in Umbrian HCWs during the COVID-19 Phase 1 lockdown along with exploring the relationship between sociodemographic/occupational factors.

Methods: Data on sociodemographic and occupational characteristics, change of job description, economic losses and emergency involvement and SARS-CoV2 infections in the workplace were collected using an anonymous online survey sent by healthcare professional associations.

Tobacco Worker's Lung: A Neglected Subtype of Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis.

Tobacco worker's lung (TWL) is a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) affecting workers exposed to tobacco leaves and molds in the humidified environment of the tobacco production industry. Limited epidemiological data point to a prevalence of TWL that is not negligible and probably underestimated. As in other types of HP, an acute vs.

Redox-Sensitive Glyoxalase 1 Up-Regulation Is Crucial for Protecting Human Lung Cells from Gold Nanoparticles Toxicity.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are considered nontoxic upon acute exposure, at least when they are equal or above 5 nm size. However, the safeguard mechanisms contributing to maintain cell viability are scarcely explored so far. Here, we investigated the cyto-protective role of Glyoxalase 1 (Glo1), a key enzyme involved in the control of deleterious dicarbonyl stress, in two human cell types of the respiratory tract, after an acute exposure to AuNPs with a main size of 5 nm.

Smoking habits in HIV-infected people compared with the general population in Italy: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Tobacco use is a leading cause of preventable diseases and death for all individuals, even more so for people living with HIV (PLWH), due to their status of chronic inflammation. To date, in Italy no study was performed to compare smoking habits in PLWH and the general population. We aimed to investigate smoking habits in PLWH, as compared to the general population.

Is It Feasible to Impact on Smoking Habits in HIV-Infected Patients? Mission Impossible From the STOPSHIV Project Cohort.

Objective: Assessment of the feasibility and effectiveness of a brief intervention for smoking cessation in people living with HIV (PLWH).

Setting: Multicenter cohort prospective study involving PLWH from 10 Italian infectious disease centers.

Methods: During routine HIV care, clinicians delivered the 5As brief intervention (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) to each patient who enrolled in the study, following the European AIDS Clinical Society guidelines.

Phenotyping Occupational Asthma Caused by Acrylates in a Multicenter Cohort Study.

Background: While acrylates are well-known skin sensitizers, they are not classified as respiratory sensitizers although several cases of acrylate-induced occupational asthma (OA) have been reported.

Objective: To evaluate the characteristics of acrylate-induced OA in a large series of cases and compare those with OA induced by other low-molecular-weight (LMW) agents.

Methods: Jobs and exposures, clinical and functional characteristics, and markers of airway inflammation were analyzed in an international, multicenter, retrospective cohort of subjects with OA ascertained by a positive inhalation challenge to acrylates (n = 55) or other LMW agents (n = 418) including isocyanates (n = 125).

Smoking Habits in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected People from Italy: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the STOPSHIV Cohort.

In a nationwide Italian sample of people living with HIV (PLWH), the prevalence of smoking, nicotine dependence, propensity to stop smoking, and cardiovascular profile were investigated. The nicotine dependence by Fagerström test and the propensity to stop according to the stages of change were evaluated. Associations between smoking habits and patients' characteristics were analyzed using an unconditional logistic regression model.

Riflessioni medico-legali su un caso giudizario di mobbing.

Lo stress e le violenze morali nei luoghi di lavoro, come indicato dai dati epidemiologici, sono in costante aumento e rappresentano una causa di alterazione dello stato di salute dei lavoratori, con importanti ricadute negative sui soggetti, sulle aziende e sulla società. Nel caso descritto qui di seguito, le violenze morali e la disfunzionalità organizzativa, una delle principali fonti di stress correlato al lavoro, sono state intenzionalmente impiegate quale mezzo mobbizzante nei confronti di un lavoratore da parte dei suoi superiori (mobbing verticale). Attraverso il procedimento giudiziario, intrapreso dal lavoratore per vedersi riconosciuto vittima di mobbing, è stato possibile ripercorrere e identificare le ragioni e le modalità dell'azione mobbizzante, l'eziopatogenesi della conseguente psicopatologia, la sua strutturazione e la manifestazione sintomatologica.

Are high- and low-molecular-weight sensitizing agents associated with different clinical phenotypes of occupational asthma?

Background: High-molecular-weight (HMW) proteins and low-molecular-weight (LMW) chemicals can cause occupational asthma (OA) although few studies have thoroughly compared the clinical, physiological, and inflammatory patterns associated with these different types of agents. The aim of this study was to determine whether OA induced by HMW and LMW agents shows distinct phenotypic profiles.

Methods: Clinical and functional characteristics, and markers of airway inflammation were analyzed in an international, multicenter, retrospective cohort of subjects with OA ascertained by a positive inhalation challenge response to HMW (n = 544) and LMW (n = 635) agents.

Occupational risk factors for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Southern Europe: a case-control study.

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive fibrosing interstitial pneumonia of unknown cause associated with the histopathologic and/or radiologic pattern of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP). Occupational risk factors have been proposed to be associated with UIP. The aim of this case-control study is to evaluate the relationship between UIP pattern and occupational exposure in Southern Europe.

Acute effects of lead on porcine neonatal Sertoli cells in vitro.

Environmental pollution is one of the main factors responsible for reducing fertility in males. Lead is one of the major heavy metal contaminants that impairs several organs; it preferentially accumulates in male reproductive organs and alters sperm quality both in vivo and in vitro. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

Estimating the Smoking Ban Effects on Smoking Prevalence, Quitting and Cigarette Consumption in a Population Study of Apprentices in Italy.

Objectives: We evaluated the effects of the Italian 2005 smoking ban in public places on the prevalence of smoking, quitting and cigarette consumption of young workers.

Data And Methods: The dataset was obtained from non-computerized registers of medical examinations for a population of workers with apprenticeship contracts residing in the province of Viterbo, Italy, in the period 1996-2007. To estimate the effects of the ban, a segmented regression approach was used, exploiting the discontinuity introduced by the application of the law on apprentices' smoking behavior.

In vitro cadmium effects on ECM gene expression in human bronchial epithelial cells.

Occupational and environmental exposure to the heavy metal cadmium (Cd) and its inhalation from cigarette smoke are associated with emphysema. Many growth factors and extracellular matrix (ECM) cell signaling molecules are directly involved in the epithelial bronchial cell pathway. This study investigated the direct effects of Cd on the production of several ECM components in human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) that were exposed in vitro for 48 h to sub-toxic and toxic concentrations of Cd.

[Evaluation of genotoxic effects in subjects occupationally exposed to antineoplastic drugs].

The present molecular epidemiology study was carried out to evaluate the genotoxic effects of occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs (ANP). The study was conducted in 52 hospital workers involved in the preparation, handling or administration of ANP in a hospital in Perugia (central Italy) and in 52 non-exposed control subjects matched for age, gender and smoking habits to the exposed subjects. Both comet assay and the micronucleus test were used to evaluate genome damage in peripheral blood lymphocytes in study subjects.

Effects of sub-toxic Cadmium concentrations on bone gene expression program: results of an in vitro study.

Since occupational and environmental exposure to the heavy metal Cadmium (Cd) affects human health this study investigated the effects of exposure to a single, or multiple, sub-toxic Cd concentrations on sub-confluent and confluent human osteoblast growth and expression of specific bone differentiation markers. RT-PCR quantified gene expression of type I collagen, metalloprotease (MMP13), runt-related transcription factor-2 (RUNX2), osterix, osteocalcin, osteonectin, alkaline phosphatase, integrins and bone sialoprotein (BSP). Expression of fibroblast growth factors 1 and 2 (FGF1, FGF2), transforming growth factor-beta(3) (TGFbeta(3)) and bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2) were also evaluated to determine whether Cd-related effects were mediated by an imbalance in expression.

Risk factors for operated carpal tunnel syndrome: a multicenter population-based case-control study.

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a socially and economically relevant disease caused by compression or entrapment of the median nerve within the carpal tunnel. This population-based case-control study aims to investigate occupational/non-occupational risk factors for surgically treated CTS.

Methods: Cases (n = 220) aged 18-65 years were randomly drawn from 13 administrative databases of citizens who were surgically treated with carpal tunnel release during 2001.

Incidence rates of in-hospital carpal tunnel syndrome in the general population and possible associations with marital status.

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a socially relevant condition associated with biomechanical risk factors. We evaluated age-sex-specific incidence rates of in-hospital cases of CTS in central/northern Italy and explored relations with marital status.

Methods: Seven regions were considered (overall population, 14.