Trends in the quality of maternal and neonatal care in Sweden and Norway as compared to 12 WHO European countries: A cross-sectional survey investigating maternal perspectives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Maternal-neonatal healthcare services were severely disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic in even high-income countries within the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. The objective of this study was to compare trends in the quality of maternal and neonatal care (QMNC) in Sweden and Norway to 12 other countries from the WHO European Region during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify domains for improvement.

Material And Methods: This cross-sectional study included women giving birth in Europe from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

Health workers' perspectives on the quality of maternal and newborn health care around the time of childbirth: Results of the Improving MAternal Newborn carE in the EURO Region (IMAgiNE EURO) project in 12 countries of the World Health Organization European Region.

Background: Health workers' (HWs') perspectives on the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) are not routinely collected. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to document HWs' perspectives on QMNC around childbirth in 12 World Health Organization (WHO) European countries.

Methods: HWs involved in maternal/neonatal care for at least one year between March 2020 and March 2023 answered an online validated WHO standards-based questionnaire collecting 40 quality measures for improving QMNC.

Club Cells-A Guardian against Occupational Hazards.

Club cells have a distinct role in the epithelial repair and defense mechanisms of the lung. After exposure to environmental pollutants, during chronic exposure, the secretion of club cells secretory protein (CCSP) decreases. Exposure to occupational hazards certainly has a role in a large number of interstitial lung diseases.

Recognition of COVID-19 with occupational origin: a comparison between European countries.

Objectives: This study aims to present an overview of the formal recognition of COVID-19 as occupational disease (OD) or injury (OI) across Europe.

Methods: A COVID-19 questionnaire was designed by a task group within COST-funded OMEGA-NET and sent to occupational health experts of 37 countries in WHO European region, with a last update in April 2022.

Results: The questionnaire was filled out by experts from 35 countries.

Development, validation, and accuracy of ORCHESTRA emotional exhaustion screening questionnaire among healthcare workers during COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges, particularly for healthcare workers (HCWs). The prolonged struggles exposed the HCWs to a variety of stressors, potentially leading to burnout. Emotional exhaustion is widely recognized as the core component of burnout.

Is Spontaneous Preterm Prelabor of Membrane Rupture Irreversible? A Review of Potentially Curative Approaches.

There is still no curative treatment for the spontaneous preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (sPPROM), the main cause of premature birth. Here, we summarize the most recent methods and materials used for sealing membranes after sPPROM. A literature search was conducted between 2013 and 2023 on reported newborns after membranes were sealed or on animal or tissue culture models.

Impaired Melatonin Secretion, Oxidative Stress and Metabolic Syndrome in Night Shift Work.

Metabolic syndrome has been associated in many studies with working in shifts. Even if the mechanistic details are not fully understood, forced sleep deprivation and exposure to light, as happens during night shifts, or irregular schedules with late or very early onset of the working program, lead to a sleep-wake rhythm misalignment, metabolic dysregulation and oxidative stress. The cyclic melatonin secretion is regulated by the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei and light exposure.

Women's assessment of the quality of hospital-based perinatal care by mode of birth in Romania during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results from the IMAgiNE EURO study.

Objective: To assess women's perceptions of the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) received in hospitals in Romania during the COVID-19 pandemic by mode of birth.

Methods: A validated anonymous online questionnaire based on WHO quality measures. Subgroup analysis of spontaneous vaginal birth (SVB), emergency cesarean, and elective cesarean and multivariate analyses were performed, and QMNC indexes were calculated.

Rates of instrumental vaginal birth and cesarean and quality of maternal and newborn health care in private versus public facilities: Results of the IMAgiNE EURO study in 16 countries.

Objective: To explore the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) during the COVID-19 pandemic by facility type among 16 European countries, comparing rates of instrumental vaginal birth and cesarean.

Methods: Women who gave birth in the WHO European Region from March 1, 2020, to February 7, 2022, answered a validated online questionnaire. Rates of instrumental birth, instrumental vaginal birth, and cesarean, and a QMNC index were calculated for births in public versus private facilities.

Individual and country-level variables associated with the medicalization of birth: Multilevel analyses of IMAgiNE EURO data from 15 countries in the WHO European region.

Objective: To investigate potential associations between individual and country-level factors and medicalization of birth in 15 European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Online anonymous survey of women who gave birth in 2020-2021. Multivariable multilevel logistic regression models estimating associations between indicators of medicalization (cesarean, instrumental vaginal birth [IVB], episiotomy, fundal pressure) and proxy variables related to care culture and contextual factors at the individual and country level.

Factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding at discharge during the COVID-19 pandemic in 17 WHO European Region countries.

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding is the optimal infant nutrition, providing infants immunoprotection against many diseases including SARS-CoV-2 infection. Restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic may have negatively affected breastfeeding practices in maternity care facilities. The aims of the study were to examine exclusive breastfeeding rates at discharge over time and to identify factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding during the pandemic.

Exhaustion in Healthcare Workers after the First Three Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aims to identify the determinants of exhaustion of frontline and second-line healthcare workers (HCW) during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A case−control study was conducted based on an anonymously distributed questionnaire, which was completed by 1872 HCW. Exhaustion was assessed with a validated Romanian questionnaire.

Coronasomnia in Employees without a Direct Contact with COVID-19 Infected Patients in Their Workplace.

Background: The aim of this analysis was to explore coronasomnia in second line workers.

Methods: Data were collected via in an online questionnaire. Patients with new onset or aggravation of insomnia were defined as cases and those without insomnia as controls.

The value of fractional exhaled nitric oxide in occupational diseases - a systematic review.

Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a non-invasive biomarker of respiratory tract inflammation, originally designated to identify eosinophilic airway inflammation and to predict steroid response. The main field of application of this biomarker is asthma, but FeNO has also been used for other allergic and non-allergic pulmonary disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypersensitivity pneumonitis and interstitial lung disease. A substantial part of respiratory diseases are related to work, and FeNO, a safe and easy measure to conduct, is a potential valid examination in an occupational setting.

The Pathological Links between Adiposity and the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

An association between obesity and carpal tunnel syndrome is found in many epidemiological studies. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the physiopathological links that could explain the association between these two entities. Ectopic adipose tissue is responsible for metabolic syndrome and inflammation, and is a major risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Smoking Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Arguments for a Distinctive Phenotype and a Personalized Intervention.

Background: This is the first study that aims to define smoking, with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), as a phenotype (SOSA). Moreover, we wanted to demonstrate the deleterious effects of the continuation of smoking on OSA.

Methods: The cross-sectional study highlighted four dimensions of SOSA: the demographic and anthropometric features, the symptoms, the comorbidities, and the sleep study parameters.

Antioxidants in Hops: Bioavailability, Health Effects and Perspectives for New Products.

Hop plant ( L.) has been used by humans for ages, presumably first as a herbal remedy, then in the manufacturing of different products, from which beer is the most largely consumed. Female hops cones have different useful chemical compounds, an important class being antioxidants, mainly polyphenols.

Occupational Asthma: The Knowledge Needs for a Better Management.

The management of occupational asthma (OA) may be influenced by several factors and removal from exposure is the main tertiary prevention approach, but it is not always feasible without personal and socioeconomic consequences. Reducing the delay between the onset of suggestive symptoms of OA and the diagnosis of OA is associated with a better prognosis. Workers' education to increase awareness to trigger agents and a medical surveillance program directed especially at at-risk workers could be helpful in reducing this latency time.

Quality of facility-based maternal and newborn care around the time of childbirth during the COVID-19 pandemic: online survey investigating maternal perspectives in 12 countries of the WHO European Region.

Background: Multi-country studies assessing the quality of maternal and newborn care (QMNC) during the COVID-19 pandemic, as defined by WHO Standards, are lacking.

Methods: Women who gave birth in 12 countries of the WHO European Region from March 1, 2020 - March 15, 2021 answered an online questionnaire, including 40 WHO Standard-based Quality Measures.

Findings: 21,027 mothers were included in the analysis.

Challenges in Diagnosing Occupational Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Occupational chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (oCOPD) represents 15-20% of the global burden of this disease. Even if industrial bronchitis has long been known, new occupational hazards continue to emerge and enlarge the number of people exposed to risk. This review discusses the challenges related to the early detection of oCOPD, in the context of new exposures and of limited usage of methods for an efficient disease occupational screening.

Adiponectin and Asthma: Knowns, Unknowns and Controversies.

Adiponectin is an adipokine associated with the healthy obese phenotype. Adiponectin increases insulin sensitivity and has cardio and vascular protection actions. Studies related to adiponectin, a modulator of the innate and acquired immunity response, have suggested a role of this molecule in asthma.

Modified Plasma Cytokine Profile in Occupational Dermatitis.

Background: Despite significant progress in the diagnosis of contact dermatitis, the identification by specific tests or biomarkers remains an unsolved issue, particularly when needed for the confirmation of the occupational origin of the disease.

Objective: To characterize the plasma proteome profile in occupational dermatitis in workers of paint industry.

Methods: The study has a case-control design, comparing exposed workers with and without occupational contact dermatitis, matched for age, gender, occupational history, and comorbidities.

Dark Chocolate: To Eat or Not to Eat? A Review.

Dark chocolate is not the most popular chocolate; the higher concentration in antioxidants pays tribute to the increment in bitterness. The caloric density of dark chocolate is potentially lower but has a large variability according to recipes and ingredients. Nevertheless, in the last decade, the interest in dark chocolate as a potential functional food has constantly increased.