Exploring hospital efficiency within and between Italian regions: new empirical evidence.

This paper investigates the efficiency of Italian hospitals and how their performances have changed over the years 2007-2016, characterized by the great economic recession and budget constraints. We apply the Benefit of Doubt (BoD) approach to determine a composite index that considers the multi-dimensionality of the hospital outcome to be used as main output in a metafrontier production function based on a stochastic frontier framework. The efficiency score distribution is then used to construct a Theil index in order to compare, over time, the inequality of the estimated efficiency between hospitals, both within and between regions.

Three-Dimensional Dental Analysis for Sex Estimation in the Italian Population: A Pilot Study Based on a Geometric Morphometric and Artificial Neural Network Approach.

Dental dimorphism can be used for discriminating sex in forensic contexts. Geometric morphometric analysis (GMA) allows the evaluation of the shape and size, separately, of uneven 3D objects. This study presents experiments using a novel combination of GMA and an artificial neural network (ANN) for sex classification, applied to premolars of Caucasian Italian adults (50 females and 50 males).

Blessed are the first: The long-term effect of birth order on trust.

Acknowledging childhood as a crucial period for the formation of social preferences, we investigate whether the order of birth predicts trust in adult life. We find that laterborns trust on average 5% less than their older siblings, independently from personality traits, family ties, risk aversion and parental inputs. Family random- and fixed-effects estimates suggest that the variation in trust is mostly explained by within- rather than between-family characteristics.

Implementing post-orthodontic compliance among adolescents wearing removable retainers through Whatsapp: a pilot study.

To determine whether the use of social media is useful in improving compliance and follow-up attendance among patients wearing retainers after orthodontic treatment. Sixty post-orthodontic patients (aged 16-19 years), randomized in two groups: follow-up supported by participation in WhatsApp chat group (SG), and Control Group (CG). All patients were scheduled for quarterly check-ups for monitoring of orthodontic stability by measurement of intercanine width at the beginning of the study (t) and every 4 months t, t, t) for 1 year of observation.

Real-Time Diffusion of Information on Twitter and the Financial Markets.

Do spikes in Twitter chatter about a firm precede unusual stock market trading activity for that firm? If so, Twitter activity may provide useful information about impending financial market activity in real-time. We study the real-time relationship between chatter on Twitter and the stock trading volume of 96 firms listed on the Nasdaq 100, during 193 days of trading in the period from May 21, 2012 to September 18, 2013. We identify observations featuring firm-specific spikes in Twitter activity, and randomly assign each observation to a ten-minute increment matching on the firm and a number of repeating time indicators.

Cross-trial prediction of treatment outcome in depression: a machine learning approach.

Background: Antidepressant treatment efficacy is low, but might be improved by matching patients to interventions. At present, clinicians have no empirically validated mechanisms to assess whether a patient with depression will respond to a specific antidepressant. We aimed to develop an algorithm to assess whether patients will achieve symptomatic remission from a 12-week course of citalopram.

[Epidemiologic surveillance of mesothelioma for the prevention of asbestos exposure also in non-traditional settings].

Objective: To show how malignant mesothelioma (MM) surveillance not only identifies settings of exposure representing past industrial history, but it may also detect conditions of current exposure relevant for the prevention, if the wide spectrum of asbestos uses is considered.

Design: Active search of MM cases and exposure assessment at individual level through a questionnaire; identification of exposure circumstances relevant for prevention.

Setting And Participants: Italy, all the Regions where a Regional Operating Centre (COR) is established to identify all MM cases diagnosed in the population and analyze their occupational, residential, household and environmental histories.

Diagnostic decision support of heart rate turbulence in sleep apnea syndrome.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is characterized by repeated upper-airway obstruction during sleep. It is diagnosed by polysomnographic studies, scoring OSAS severity by an apneas/hypopneas index associated to worse prognosis, mainly for an increased cardiovascular morbidity. Cardiac autonomic impairments involved in the development of cardiovascular disease in OSAS can be assessed by heart rate turbulence (HRT) analysis and aim of the paper is to show the increased medical decision support by HRT evaluation in OSAS patients.

[Autopsy findings and pleural plaques in the Malignant Mesothelioma (MM) Regional Register of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia].

Aims: To describe the cases of MM that occurred in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region in the period 1995-2009 and evaluate the diagnostic contribution of autopsy findings.

Methods: Via the Regional Register a search for MM cases was made following standardized criteria for diagnosis and past asbestos exposure assessment. Pleural plaques were identified by autopsy findings; the relationship between presence of pleural plaques and assessment of past asbestos exposure was analyzed.

[Anti-smoking counseling in a group of workers with past exposure to asbestos].

Background: Anti-smoking counseling is often part of healthcare protocols for workers with past asbestos exposure; nevertheless, data is lacking about the results.

Objectives: To evaluate smoking habits and the effects of anti-smoking counseling in a group of workers with past asbestos exposure.

Methods: Smoking was assessed in 671 subjects who voluntarily attended a health surveillance protocol.

Asbestos and SV40 in malignant pleural mesothelioma from a hyperendemic area of north-eastern Italy.

Aims And Background: Malignant mesothelioma is a fatal cancer of increasing incidence in north-eastern Italy. Together with asbestos, the polyomavirus SV40 was hypothesized to contribute to the onset of malignant mesothelioma. To investigate the putative role of SV40 in the individual susceptibility to asbestos-induced malignant mesothelioma, we conducted a molecular epidemiological study on a series of malignant mesothelioma patients from an area in north-eastern Italy hyperendemic for malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Pleural malignant mesothelioma epidemic: incidence, modalities of asbestos exposure and occupations involved from the Italian National Register.

Due to the large scale use of asbestos (more than 3.5 million tons produced or imported until its definitive banning in 1992), a specific national surveillance system of mesothelioma incident cases is active in Italy, with direct and individual anamnestic etiological investigation. In the period between 1993 and 2004, a case-list of 8,868 pleural MM was recorded by the Italian National Register (ReNaM) and the modalities of exposure to asbestos fibres have been investigated for 6,603 of them.

Incidence of extrapleural malignant mesothelioma and asbestos exposure, from the Italian national register.

Objectives: The epidemiology of extrapleural malignant mesothelioma is rarely discussed and the risk of misdiagnosis and the very low incidence complicate the picture. This study presents data on extrapleural malignant mesothelioma from the Italian National Mesothelioma Register (ReNaM).

Methods: ReNaM works on a regional basis, searching for cases and interviewing subjects to investigate asbestos exposure.

[Respiratory function and smoking habit among shipyard and dock workers].

The aim of the study is to compare the loss of lung function in a group of 196 male workers employed in shipbuilding/repairing and port activities ("cases") with a group of 109 healthcare workers ("controls"). "Cases" were grouped by radiological examination (chest X-ray/HRCT) depending on the presence or absence of pleural plaques. Smoking habit was assessed in all subjects.

[Malignant mesothelioma (MM) in women: findings of the Mesothelioma Register of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region].

During the period 2000-2003, the Mesothelioma Register of the Friuli Venezia Giulia identified 248 cases of MM, 44 of which (18%) were female. In 36 cases the diagnosis was "certain" and in 8 "probable" or "possible". Mean age at diagnosis was 72.

[Epidemiological surveillance of malignant mesothelioma cases in Italy: incidence and asbestos exposure figures by the Italian mesothelioma registry (ReNaM)].

The Study describes the epidemiological surveillance of mesothelioma cases carried out by the Italian mesothelioma register (ReNaM). A Regional Operating Centre (COR) is present in nearly all Italian regions (17 out of 20) and it collects malignant mesothelioma cases and investigate the modalities of asbestos exposure by using a structured questionnaire. The register produces malignant mesothelioma incidence measures and analyses of the modalities of the asbestos exposure.

Analysis of latency time and its determinants in asbestos related malignant mesothelioma cases of the Italian register.

Italy was an important producer of raw asbestos until 1992 (when it was banned) and it is now experiencing severe public health consequences due to large-scale industrial use of asbestos in shipbuilding and repair, asbestos-cement production, railways, buildings, chemicals and many other industrial sectors. Latency of malignant mesothelioma generally shows a large variability and the relationship with the modality of asbestos exposure is still not fully clarified. We present an analysis of latency period among the case list collected by the Italian mesothelioma register (ReNaM) in the period of diagnosis 1993-2001 (2544 malignant mesothelioma (MM) cases with asbestos exposure history).

SV40 multiple tissue infection and asbestos exposure in a hyperendemic area for malignant mesothelioma.

To assess the presence of SV40 in malignant mesothelioma tissue, 19 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded pleural cancer samples of patients from a hyperendemic area of northeastern Italy were analyzed retrospectively. A total of 48 other tissues from the malignant mesothelioma subjects were investigated. The SV40 load was determined by real-time quantitative PCR.

A case of malignant mesothelioma in a rice-starch factory.

Introduction: Recent reports of cases of malignant mesothelioma (MM) in "non-traditional" areas of employment are an indication of the numerous occasions in which exposure to asbestos has occurred in the workplace. We describe an unusual case of occupational exposure to asbestos to stress the importance of careful history taking when assessing a patient's work history, especially in generic occupations in which there is apparently no exposure to asbestos.

Case Report: Malignant mesothelioma was diagnosed in a woman worker employed in a factory making rice starch.

[A follow-up study of lung function among ex-asbestos workers with and without pleural plaques].

Background: Pulmonary function testing is widely accepted as an integral part of medical surveillance of occupational lung diseases. There are several cross-sectional studies evaluating lung function among asbestos-exposed workers, but only few longitudinal surveys have been performed.

Objectives: To evaluate, over a mean follow-up period of 3.

[Pleural plaques and ventilatory function: follow-up study].

We have evaluated, over a mean follow up period of 3.7 (SD 1.8) years, the lung function in a group of 103 workers, according to the presence (36 workers) or absence (67 workers) of pleural plaques at chest Rx-films/HRCT.

[Follow-up of symptoms, parameters of respiratory function, and data on specific sensitization in a group of subjects with latex-induced asthma and rhinitis].

We re-investigated 13 workers 6 years (SD 2) after the first diagnosis of asthma or rhinitis caused by latex, to update the exposure to latex, the eventual symptoms, respiratory function (spirometry and metacholine PD20 FEV1), skin prick test to common allergens and latex, RAST to latex, total IgE levels and eosinophils count in the blood. At the follow up, all the workers stopped wearing powdered latex gloves, but for 10 an indirect exposure to latex was still possible. All cases referred improvement of respiratory symptoms at work, but 7 workers occasionally complained of mild symptoms.

[Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and occupational exposure to mineral dust].

The relationship between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and occupational exposure to mineral dust is still conflicting because COPD is multifactorial disease, relatively common in the general population. A number of studies have shown that in population exposed to mineral dust there is a greater prevalence of chronic bronchitis, even in the absence of radiographic evidence of pneumoconiosis. There is no agreement, however, that dust alone will induce significant chronic airflow limitation and increase in mortality.

Features and severity of occupational asthma upon diagnosis: an Italian multicentric case review.

Background: The severity of occupational asthma (OA) at the time of diagnosis is not known. In this study we aimed to evaluate some features of the disease at the time of diagnosis, particularly looking at severity and treatment before diagnosis.

Methods: Medical records of subjects (n = 197) who had received a diagnosis of OA in six specialized centres of Northern and Central Italy in the period 1992-97 were reviewed.