Efficacy of vaccination during pregnancy in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in infants younger than 12 months. Puglia (Italy), 2021-23.

This retrospective cohort study evaluated the effectiveness of maternal vaccination against COVID-19 in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in infants younger than 12 months. The study, conducted at the "Policlinico" University Hospital of Bari, included 3346 newborns and their mothers. The study explored the degree of protection offered by maternal vaccination depending on the timing, type, and trimester of vaccination, also taking into account the mother's history of infection.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Hospitalizations in the Elderly in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Southern Italy as a Useful Proxy for Targeting Vaccine Preventive Strategies.

RSV infection causes severe respiratory illness and mortality in the elderly, especially in the presence of comorbidities. Early identification of infection would result in appropriate clinical-therapeutic management, avoiding hospitalizations, the risk of healthcare-associated infections, and inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions, thus reducing healthcare costs and fighting antimicrobial resistance. The aim of this study was to assess RSV hospitalizations in subjects >64 years hospitalized in a large tertiary care hospital in Southern Italy, in order to assess their usefulness as a proxy for targeting a potential vaccination strategy.

Performance comparison between heterologous and homologous COVID19 vaccine schedules on Omicron variant incidence: A real-world retrospective cohort study in Southern Italy.

As the COVID19 pandemic progresses, there is an increasing need to evaluate the performance of vaccine strategies. This study investigated the vaccine schedule performance of heterologous vaccination compared to homologous vaccination in preventing Omicron SARS-CoV2 infection in the adult population. This retrospective cohort study utilized data from the Infections Regional Information System and the Apulia Regional Vaccine Registry to identify individuals who received a booster dose of one of 14 different COVID19 vaccination schedules between September 2021 and August 2022 in the province of Lecce, Southern Italy.

Natural and after colon washing fecal samples: the two sides of the coin for investigating the human gut microbiome.

To date several studies address the important role of gut microbiome and its interplay with the human host in the health and disease status. However, the selection of a universal sampling matrix representative of the microbial biodiversity associated with the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, is still challenging. Here we present a study in which, through a deep metabarcoding analysis of the 16S rRNA gene, we compared two sampling matrices, feces (F) and colon washing feces (CWF), in order to evaluate their relative effectiveness and accuracy in representing the complexity of the human gut microbiome.

Associations between COVID-19 Incidence Rates and the Exposure to PM2.5 and NO: A Nationwide Observational Study in Italy.

The COVID-19 outbreak disproportionately affected the elderly and areas with higher population density. Among the multiple factors possibly involved, a role for air pollution has also been hypothesized. This nationwide observational study demonstrated the significant positive relationship between COVID-19 incidence rates and PM2.

The Effects of Low-Nickel Diet Combined with Oral Administration of Selected Probiotics on Patients with Systemic Nickel Allergy Syndrome (SNAS) and Gut Dysbiosis.

Background: Nickel (Ni) oral consumption may elicit systemic reactions in patients affected by systemic nickel allergy syndrome (SNAS), including gastrointestinal symptoms, which in turn are associated with gut dysbiosis. We evaluated the effects of a low-Ni diet alone or in combination with the oral consumption of appropriate probiotics on Ni-sensitivity and urinary dysbiosis markers in SNAS patients.

Methods: = 51 patients with SNAS and concomitant intestinal dysbiosis were enrolled in the study.

Prognostic impact of atrial fibrillation occurrence in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes: is dysrhythmia duration a parameter to focus on?

Several studies have evaluated the prognostic impact of atrial fibrillation (AF) in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients, but scarce data are available on the role of AF in non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS). The aim of this study was to investigate long-term outcome of NSTE-ACS patients experiencing an episode of AF during in-hospital course. Of 1,147 NSTE-ACS patients, 54.

Exercise Doppler echocardiography identifies preclinic asymptomatic pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis.

In systemic sclerosis (SSc), the involvement of the interstitium or vascular system of the lung may lead to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). PAH is often asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic in early SSc and, when it becomes symptomatic, pulmonary vascular system is already damaged. Exercise echocardiography (ex-echo), measuring pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) during exercise and allowing to differentiate physiologic from altered PAP responses, may identify subclinical PAH.