Int J Environ Res Public Health
September 2022
The debate on vaccination mandate was fuelled over the past two years by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed at overviewing vaccination strategies and corresponding vaccine coverages for childhood vaccinations before the pandemic and for SARS-CoV-2 in high-income countries. A qualitative comparison was also performed between the two contexts: unlike for childhood vaccinations, only one European country (Austria) imposed generalised COVID-19 mandates, most countries preferring targeted mandates for higher-risk categories (Italy, Greece) or workers in key public services (Finland, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Germany).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe rubber hand illusion (RHI) is a perceptual illusion in which one is made to feel that a hand-shaped object is part of their body. This illusion is believed to be the result of the integration of afferent information. However, there has been an increasing amount of evidence that suggests efferent information plays a role in this illusion as well.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: COVID-19 is a multi-system infection with emerging evidence-based antiviral and anti-inflammatory therapies to improve disease prognosis. However, a subset of patients with COVID-19 signs and symptoms have repeatedly negative RT-PCR tests, leading to treatment hesitancy. We used comparative serology early in the COVID-19 pandemic when background seroprevalence was low to estimate the likelihood of COVID-19 infection among RT-PCR negative patients with clinical signs and/or symptoms compatible with COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious studies on human cognition show that people with different cultural backgrounds may differ in various ways. However, there are other unexplored possibilities for cultural differences including degree of handedness thought to reflect hemispheric coordination, reliance on verbal versus visual representation in problem solving, and working memory capacity both spatial and operational. We assessed each of these using the Edinburgh scale, a validated scale of style of processing, and two automatic working memory span tasks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Establish the feasibility of pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) nurse-directed ultrasound assessment (UA) of peripheral intravenous (PIV) catheters, compare the results of UA to traditional assessment (TA), and determine PIV survival after UA.
Design: Prospective observational cohort study.
Setting: PICU within a children's hospital.
Purpose: Evaluate the accuracy of an electromagnetic device (EMD) guided nasogastric tube (NGT) placement compared with standard confirmation methods. A secondary aim was to determine if EMD guided NGT placement would avert potential pulmonary misplacements of the tube.
Design And Methods: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) patients were enrolled if they had an NGT order during the study period of April 2014 through December 2016.
Background: Heavy metals are usually present in trace amounts in various environmental media such as water, soil, and air, and many are poisonous to human health even at very low concentrations.
Objectives: To assess the risk of heavy metal contamination of water, soil, and plants around a used lead acid battery (ULAB) recycling center in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Methods: Environmental samples (water, soil, and plants) were collected using standard methods and concentrations of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), antimony (Sb), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn) were determined using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Virtual reality (VR) technology has become increasingly prevalent in our society and has been used for a myriad of applications ranging from psychotherapy to training members of the military. However, one issue that arises from the use of VR is motion sickness, thus making predictors and indicators of motion sickness desirable. To date, a number of indicators of motion sickness have been derived based on nonlinear characteristics of human motion recorded using motion capture systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Life adversities are recognized risk factors for eating disorders, in adolescents and adults, but whether such adversities are also associated with particular eating behaviors earlier in life is still unclear. Our aim was to assess whether experiencing adverse life events in early childhood is associated with emotional overeating and restrained eating at age 10.
Methods: Emotional overeating and restrained eating were assessed in 4,653 10-years-old children using the mother-reported Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire and Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire.
Rationale, Aims, And Objectives: Seasonal flu represents a major public health issue, especially for health care workers (HCWs). WHO highlights the need of higher awareness and flu vaccine coverage among HCWs. In Europe the coverage is less than 30-40%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Ther Massage Bodywork
June 2019
Background: Women worldwide experience perinatal mood, anxiety, and pain contributing to pregnancy and birth challenges, maternal and infant bonding, and childhood development. Perinatal women seek massage therapy for relaxation, pain management, and emotional support, but may encounter socioeconomic barriers. Prior studies demonstrated improved perinatal health by teaching partners of pregnant women a side-lying massage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Socio-economical changes in Europe are leading to the rise of new issues regarding the labour market and health of young workers. Job insecurity is a widely studied phenomenon that involves an increasing number of young workers. We investigated its association with mental health and hazardous behaviours.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF: Human papillomavirus infection (HPV) affects 70-80% of female population throughout the lifetime, exposing them to the risk of developing genital warts and cervical cancer. Despite these correlated risks and the demonstrated efficacy of the vaccine, coverage rates for two-three doses are around 70% in Italy and 67% in Piemonte (below the expected 95%). Aim of the study is to investigate whether this situation is due to a lack of information and awareness among young adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent research has demonstrated that heightened motivational levels promote enhanced attention capabilities. However, the relation between attentional systems and the trait-based ability to sustain a motivational state long-term is less understood. Grit refers to one's ability and willingness to pursue long-term goals despite setbacks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Infect Public Health
December 2018
Background: Rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis (RVGE) represents the most frequent form of severe gastroenteritis in children. In such a scenario, the availability of an efficient anti-Rotavirus (anti-RV) vaccine represents an effective prevention tool able to prevent those complications mainly linked to the moderate-severe forms of this disease, which require hospital care. The aim of the present study is to estimate the cost effectiveness of universal routine infant RV vaccination program and its budget impact on the Regional Health Service (RHS) of Piedmont, Italy, in order to evaluate the opportunity of the implementation of a national anti-Rotavirus vaccination programme.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany Receptor Tyrosine Kinases translocate from the cell surface to the nucleus in normal and pathological conditions, including cancer. Here we report the nuclear expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF1R) in primary human lung tumours. Using lung cancer cell lines and lung tumour xenografts, we demonstrate that the epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) gefitinib induces the nuclear accumulation of IGF1R in mucinous lung adenocarcinoma by a mechanism involving the intracellular re-localization of the growth factor amphiregulin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: AimAim of the present study was to assess the knowledge of the potential role of nurses in the primary care setting and to analyse the attitudes towards their utilization by nurses and General Practitioners (GPs) in a region of Italy.
Background: Nowadays, in Italy, the role of the nurse in primary care is still under-recognized and most primary care medical offices are managed individually by a physician.
Methods: The study consists of a questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey carried out in Piedmont, Italy, between February and September 2015.
Unlabelled: ABSTRACTBackground:Elderly are at particular risk of social isolation. This condition significantly affects health; on the contrary, social involvement can be extremely advantageous. In this context, intergenerational programs improve interactions between different ages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Health Plann Manage
January 2018
Introduction: Vertical transmission represents the major route of HIV infection for children. However, the preventive interventions available are extremely effective. This review summarizes evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of mother-to-child-transmission preventive screenings, to help policy makers in choosing the optimal antenatal screening strategy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Exercise interventions are a promising treatment for improving cognition in persons with Alzheimer's disease. This is similar to Alzheimer's disease pharmacotherapies in which only 18-48% of treated patients demonstrate improvement in cognition. Aerobic exercise interventions positively affect brain structure and function through biologically sound pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The purpose of this study was to provide baseline estimates of sodium levels in 125 popular, sodium-contributing, commercially processed and restaurant foods in the U.S., to assess future changes as manufacturers reformulate foods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious research using the change detection task has found little or no relationship between P3 amplitude and working memory load. This contrasts with findings from other paradigms that indicate a decrease in P3 amplitude with increases in working memory load. We adopted a principal component analysis strategy to resolve this discrepancy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Most sodium in the US diet comes from commercially processed and restaurant foods. Sodium reduction in these foods is key to several recent public health efforts.
Objective: The objective was to provide an overview of a program led by the USDA, in partnership with other government agencies, to monitor sodium contents in commercially processed and restaurant foods in the United States.
Background: Our study compares the efficacy of the combined contraceptive vaginal ring to oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) for hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian (HPO) axis suppression in egg donor in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles.
Methods: Our retrospective cohort study includes patients from the Center for Assisted Reproduction (CARE) in Bedford, Texas undergoing IVF cycles as egg donors from January 2003 through December 2009. Twenty-five and thirty-nine women were treated with OCPs and the combined contraceptive vaginal ring, respectively.