Mpox: Awareness, knowledge and information channels used by individuals accessing a sexually transmitted infections Helpline.

Background: Up until recently, monkeypox (mpox) was considered to be a rare zoonotic infection restricted to Central and West Africa. However, in July 2022, the World Health Organization declared mpox to be a public health emergency of international concern, after there were several outbreaks in non-endemic countries. This study assessed the information channels used by individuals accessing the "Telefono Verde AIDS e Infezioni Sessualmente Trasmesse" of Istituto Superiore di Sanità (National Institute of Health in Italy) with regard to mpox.

HIV prevalence among adults in Rome: results of the MeDi (Measuring health Disparities in HIV prevention) survey. Part 2.

Background: In Italy, out of 60 millions of inhabitants, 3000 (2700-4000) new HIV infections are estimated each year. As combined antiretroviral therapy (ART) prolongs life for HIV sufferers, the prevalence of HIV-infection is likely to increase over time. Few studies have assessed factors associated with being HIV positive in people accessing public outpatient clinics and, in particular, the influence of socio-economic circumstances on HIV prevalence.

Prevalence and attitudes to HIV testing among adults visiting public outpatient clinics in Rome: results of the MeDi (Measuring health Disparities in HIV prevention) survey. Part 1.

Background: It is estimated that, in Italy, 12 000-18 000 (11-13% of 130 000) HIV-infected subjects are not aware of their serostatus. People in this condition may visit the healthcare system multiple times without being diagnosed. If tested on one of these occasions, they could modify their high-risk behaviours and benefit from treatment, factors that reduce HIV transmission.

A novel splicing mutation in the ABCA1 gene, causing Tangier disease and familial HDL deficiency in a large family.

Tangier disease is a rare disorder of lipoprotein metabolism that presents with extremely low levels of HDL cholesterol and apoprotein A-I. It is caused by mutations in the ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) gene. Clinical heterogeneity and mutational pattern of Tangier disease are poorly characterized.

Evaluating a filtering and recirculating system to reduce dust drift in simulated sowing of dressed seed and abraded dust particle characteristics.

Background: The pneumatic precision drills used in maize sowing can release dust owing to abrasion of dressed seed; the drift of dust containing insecticide active ingredients is harmful to honey bees. Therefore, we developed a device for drills that uses partial recirculation and filtration of the air by means of an antipollen and an electrostatic filter.

Results: Tests were carried out by simulating the sowing of seed treated with imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin and fipronil.

Information needs of young Italians accessing the AIDS/STI Helpline at the Italian National Institute of Health.

Introduction: HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STI) have a relevant impact on health and sexual behavior of adolescents and young adults (range of age between 13 and 19 years). The AIDS and sexual transmitted infections (STI) Helpline of the Italian Istituto Superiore di Sanità (National Institute of Health), and also funded by the Italian Ministry of Health, has been active since 1987 providing personalized counselling interventions on HIV/AIDS and STI.

Aim And Methods: The present study gathered data and questions issues from calls at AIDS/STI Helpline in the period 1987-2014, with the specific aim of assessing the level of awareness and information needs on HIV/AIDS and STI among people aged under 25 years, in relation to potential risky behavior.

The Eisenmenger malformation: a morphologic study.

We studied 11 autopsied cases of the Eisenmenger malformation, comparing the findings with 11 hearts with intact ventricular septal structures, and nine hearts having perimembranous ventricular septal defects in the absence of aortic overriding. We found variable lengths for the subpulmonary infundibulum in the hearts with Eisenmenger defects. It was well developed in three hearts, of intermediate length in seven, and very short in one of the specimens.

Multiple metastases of soft tissue visualized by technetium-99m-methylene diphosphonate scintigraphy: a case report.

Introduction: Lungs and liver are the most common sites of colorectal cancer metastases after regional lymph nodes, but metastases to unusual sites are reported. Heterotopic bone formation in soft tissues from colorectal cancer is a rare metastatic occurrence.

Case Presentation: We present the case of a 29-year-old Caucasian man affected by colon adenocarcinoma with multiple soft tissue metastases visualized by magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography scan and scintigraphic bone scan.

Sex workers clients in Italy: results of a phone survey on hiv risk behaviour and perception.

Introduction: Sex workers (SW) clients represent a bridge population for HIV transmission from high risk to low risk general population.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional anonymous telephone survey was carried out at the AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections Helpline of National Institute of Health in Italy. The questionnaire was proposed on a voluntary basis to a sample of 119 subjects from helpline users.

Sexual behaviours of clients of sex workers reported within phone calls at HIV/AIDS/STIs Italian Helpline.

Background: Clients of sex workers represent a relevant target for interventions aimed at the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Within prevention strategies, the AIDS and sexually transmitted infections helpline (Telefono Verde AIDS/ IST, TVA-IST) of National Institute of Health in Italy has provided, since 1987, specific information and counselling interventions.

Aim: The present study reports data on anagraphical characteristics and behaviours of clients of sex workers, anonymously reported at TVA-IST in the period 1987-2010.

Low perception of sexual behaviours at risk for human immunodeficiency virus infection among blood donors who call the AIDS/STI Help Line in Italy.

Background: In Italy, the circulation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has expanded to include population groups that do not perceive themselves to be "at risk" of HIV infection and who do not even consider undergoing HIV testing. The aim of this study was to describe the socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics, and perceived risk of HIV infection in a sample of blood donors who reported never having been tested for HIV.

Materials And Methods: A questionnaire was administered to a sample of donors who called the Italian National AIDS/STI Help Line and reported never having been tested for HIV.

Usefulness of local delivery of thrombolytics before thrombectomy in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (the delivery of thrombolytics before thrombectomy in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention [DISSOLUTION] randomized trial).

Thrombus aspiration during percutaneous coronary intervention can result in improved rates of normal epicardial flow and myocardial perfusion, but several unmet needs remain. The purpose of the Delivery of thrombolytIcs before thrombectomy in patientS with ST-segment elevatiOn myocardiaL infarction Undergoing primary percuTaneous coronary interventION (DISSOLUTION) trial was to evaluate the hypothesis that local delivery of thrombolytics can enhance the efficacy of thrombus aspiration in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention. A total of 102 patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and angiographic evidence of massive thrombosis in the culprit artery were randomly assigned to receive a local, intrathrombus bolus of 200,000 U of urokinase (n = 51) or saline solution (n = 51) by way of an infusion microcatheter, followed by manual aspiration thrombectomy.

Cardiomyopathies due to homoplasmic mitochondrial tRNA mutations: morphologic and molecular features.

Isolated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may represent the sole clinical feature of a mitochondrial disorder in adult patients. The clinical outcome is characterized by a rapid progression to dilation and failure. A mitochondrial etiology in these cases is not obvious at clinical investigation and may represent an unexpected finding at autopsy or after cardiac transplant.

Polypharmacy in nursing home in Europe: results from the SHELTER study.

Background: This study assesses prevalence and patients characteristics related to polypharmacy in a sample of nursing home residents.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis on 4,023 nursing home residents participating to the Services and Health for Elderly in Long TERm care (SHELTER) project, a study collecting information on residents admitted to 57 nursing home in 8 countries. Data were collected using the interRAI instrument for long-term care facilities.

Isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase levels modulate the penetrance of a homoplasmic m.4277T>C mitochondrial tRNA(Ile) mutation causing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

The genetic and epigenetic factors underlying the variable penetrance of homoplasmic mitochondrial DNA mutations are poorly understood. We investigated a 16-year-old patient with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy harboring a homoplasmic m.4277T>C mutation in the mt-tRNA(Ile) (MTTI) gene.

Communication, recruitment and enrolment in the preventative and therapeutic phase I clinical trial against HIV/AIDS based on the recombinant HIV-1 Tat protein.

The role of volunteer recruitment in HIV vaccine trials has recently been considered particularly with respect to critical issues, such as motivation, psychological assessment and social impact. The preventative and therapeutic phase I trials based on the recombinant biologically active Tat vaccine candidate, sponsored in Italy by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, included a specific centralised procedure (SCP) developed to support both the sponsor and the volunteers during trial enrolment and conduction. This process, which is an integrated, multidisciplinary, biomedical and psycho-socio-behavioural network, represented a novel and important aspect for the conduction and success of the clinical study.

Social and behavioural characteristics of a sample of AIDS Help-Line users never tested for HIV in Italy.

Background: We conducted an anonymous cross-sectional telephone survey among persons who had never undergone HIV testing to determine their socio-demographic characteristics, behaviour, risk perception and reasons for not being tested.

Methods: A questionnaire was administered to adult callers to the Italian National AIDS Help-Line who reported that they had never been tested for HIV.

Results: The study sample consisted of 539 individuals.

Isolated distal myopathy of the upper limbs associated with mitochondrial DNA depletion and polymerase gamma mutations.

Objective: To describe an unusual clinical phenotype in an adult harboring 2 compound heterozygous polymerase γ (POLG) mutations.

Design: Case report.

Setting: University-based outpatient neurology clinic and pathology and genetics laboratory.

Criteria for standardising counselling for HIV testing.

In the present work, we outline basic health counselling skills, specifically, those for performing pre-test and post-test counselling for HIV infection. The ultimate goal is to propose that counselling be performed in facilities that carry out screening for anti-HIV antibodies, following standardised (and thus replicable) criteria, with consistent focus on the quality of the relationship between the healthcare professional and the individual undergoing testing and on the individual's specific needs.

The challenge of reform: 10 years of curricula change in Italian medical schools.

Italy has a long history of versatility in medical training in which the tension between 'knowing' and 'doing' is a recurrent theme dating from the origins of the first European medical faculties in Bologna in the eleventh century. Italian medical schools are currently undergoing widespread reforms building on two decades of concerted efforts by medical educators to move from traditional teacher and subject-centred degree programmes to integrated student-centred curricula. European higher education policies have helped drive this process.

The role of intraoperative transoesophageal echocardiography in the diagnosis and management of a rare multiple fibroelastoma of aortic valve: a case report and review of literature.

Papillary fibroelastoma is the third most common primary tumour of the heart that usually involves the cardiac valves. Multiple papillary fibroelastomas are extremely rare. We report a case with multiple valve papillary fibroelastoma which was identified only by intraoperative transoesophageal echocardiography.

[Three good reasons to perform a postmortem examination in all cases of juvenile sudden death].

The aim of this review is to underline the reasons why a post-mortem examination has to be performed in all cases of juvenile sudden death. Sudden death in children and young adults can be caused by potentially heritable cardiovascular disorders and fatal outcome is often the first symptom in apparently healthy subjects. In these cases, a careful autopsy, performed according to a standardized protocol, becomes the sole diagnostic tool to guide clinical and molecular genetic family screening and to adopt the proper therapeutic and preventive strategies.

The female condom: knowledge, attitude,and willingness to use. The first Italian study.

Women account for nearly half the people living with HIV worldwide. This situation makes it necessary to improve prevention actions targeting women: the female condom is a good option. The study was conducted, the first in Italy, in a public AIDS Center on a sample of 162 participants (66.