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Background: Eating a healthy diet is acknowledged as one of the main factors in preventing malnutrition and non-communicable diseases. As young students represent a group more prone to poor dietary habits, the aim of this study was to analyse the dietary habits of a group of undergraduate students attending university in a city of central Italy, Siena., Methods: 4,700 students were invited to participate in a cross-sectional study completing an online self-administered questionnaire about their food habits. The obtained data were analysed by Microsoft Excel 2021 and Stata 17 software, through the Mann-Whitney and the Kruskal-Wallis test; a p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant., Results: The students living at home consumed more fruit, vegetables, pasta, meat, fish, packaged foods, fruit juices, beer and wine; the only statistically significant differences were found for pizza and snacks. Even the gender influenced the consumption of many foods; women consumed more vegetables and coffee/tea, while males ate more pasta, meat, packaged foods, pizza, fries and beer., Conclusions: With the transition from secondary school to university, students are continuously challenged to make healthful food choices and they must be self-disciplined to take care of themselves. It would be important for health campaigns to be promoted in young adults to help them make the right choices., Competing Interests: None declared., (©2024 Pacini Editore SRL, Pisa, Italy.)

Introduction: Acute bronchiolitis is one of leading causes of lower respiratory tract infection and hospitalisation in children less than one year old worldwide. The aim of our study is investigating the impact of bronchiolitis in children paediatric to the Emergency Department (ED) of Teaching Hospital (AOUS), Santa Maria alle Scotte of Siena, Tuscany (Italy)., Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted on the accesses performed at the ED of the AOUS of Siena by children under 18 years of age suffering from bronchiolitis from September 2018 to April 2023., Results: There were 36,031 patients between 0 and 18 years old in the Emergency Department, 383 of which presented bronchiolitis (age 4.8 months C.I.:3.5-6 months.; 54% male). Those who accessed the ED with a higher priority code were more likely to be subsequently admitted (O.R.:2.6; C.I.:1.3-5.1; p < 0.01). Those who accessed the ED with symptoms of bronchiolitis during the weekend were less likely to have been sent from community medicine services or professionals (O.R:0.1; C.I:0.0-0.5; p < 0.001). Children below 1 year old were more likely to access the ED with respiratory distress symptoms (O.R.:2.6; C.I.:1.5-4.3; p < 0.001). Finally, those who accessed the ED with bronchiolitis were more likely to be admitted than those who accessed for other conditions (O.R:24.5; C.I.:19.4-31; p < 0.001)., Conclusions: It is necessary to invest protocols integrating hospital services and community medicine in order to achieve a timely diagnosis and to reduce the accesses to the ED of children presenting mild, non-severe form of bronchiolitis in order to avoid the overload of hospital services., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (©2024 Pacini Editore SRL, Pisa, Italy.)

Introduction: Childhood obesity is a social health problem in the Western World and an important goal is to analyze and correct risk factors. However, part of the problem could be determined by a different perception of the weight., Material and Methods: In October 2019, we conducted a cross-sectional study in which a questionnaire was administered to the parents of primary and secondary school children in South-East Tuscany, Italy. The aim was to determine the association between children's Body Mass Index (BMI) and the parent's perception., Results: Analysis was carried out on 1,405 complete questionnaires. We found that most parents wrongly perceive the weight of their children. 88.3% of parents with obese children believe that their children are of normal weight or only "a little overweight". 67.6% of parents who have overweight children think that their children are of normal weight (p < 0.001)., Conclusions: Our results show a misperception of the weight of the children in the parents eyes. The acquisition of healthy behaviour during childhood is extremely important for health in adulthood and for avoiding the onset of associated diseases. Therefore, food education becomes a crucial objective. Children and parents need to increase consciousness of the correct weight and diseases resulting from bad nutrition., Competing Interests: sCOOL FOOD program was financed by the Monte dei Paschi Foundation. The authors did not receive any personal funds for the research. Monte dei Paschi Foundation had no role in the test design, data collection or analysis, decision to publish, or preparation and discussion of the test results in the manuscript., (©2023 Pacini Editore SRL, Pisa, Italy.)

Introduction: UV-C has proven to be an effective virucide and microbicide, and its cost-effectiveness allowed it to spread as a disinfecting procedure in different environments., Methods: The study aims to determine the microbicide activity on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and SARS-CoV-2 of the UV-C Boxer by Cartoni S.p.A. Three separate experiments were performed to assess the effectiveness of the UV-C disinfection device on different materials, directly on surfaces of a video camera and on a specific carrier for SARS-CoV-2., Results: In all three experiments, a significant abatement of bacterial and viral contamination was reached after 60 seconds on carriers and after 3 minutes on all examined surfaces of the video camera, with a higher reduction on glass carriers., Conclusions: UV-C devices may be a valuable tool to implement in the working routine to achieve a higher level of safety in work environments., Competing Interests: Cartoni S.p.A. financed the University of Siena, with G.M. as the principal investigator. G.M. did not receive any personal funds for the research. G.M. and G.C. are the co-founders of the company egoHEALTH which received Cartoni S.p.A. funds to cover part of the investigation. The company Cartoni S.p.A had no role in the test design, data collection or analysis, decision to publish, or preparation and discussion of the test results in the manuscript., (©2023 Pacini Editore SRL, Pisa, Italy.)

Background: WHO, Unicef, the World Bank and the Maternal and Child Health Partnership wrote the document "Nurturing care for early child development: a global framework action". This paper highlights the benefits of early intervention and thus the need to invest more in health during this period. The aim of our study is to assess how much social support received by pregnant mothers can influence maternity outcomes., Materials and Methods: The retrospective observational study was conducted on a sample of mothers enrolled via social networks, who were administered a questionnaire from 1 July to 1 September 2021. The questionnaire consisted of 37 questions, 6 of which were used to calculate the "Maternity Social Support Scale". The ODDs Ratio was calculated., Results: Our sample consisted of 3447 women. 59.01% were between 26 and 35 years of age. The mean Maternity Social Support Scale (MSSS) score was calculated to be 23.9 points. A low MSSS score correlated with a higher probability of stopping breastfeeding before 6 months of age (OR: 1.2; CI:1.1-1.4) and of having a caesarean section (OR: 1.2; CI: 1.1-1.4) and to a lower probability of having a spontaneous labour (OR: 0.9; CI: 0.7-0.9) and a spontaneous delivery (OR: 0.8; CI: 0.7-0.9). In contrast, a high MSSS score had a lower likelihood of ceasing breastfeeding before 6 months (OR: 0.8; CI: 0.7-0.9) and caesarean section(OR: 0.8; CI: 0.7-0.9) and higher likelihood of spontaneous onset labour (OR: 1.2; CI: 1.1-1.3) and spontaneous delivery (OR: 1.2; CI: 1.1-1.4)., Conclusions: Pregnancy, childbirth and maternity outcomes are strongly influenced and conditioned by the social context in which they occur and the support the woman may receive. The presence or lack of this support may affect the health of newborns., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests, (©2023 Pacini Editore SRL, Pisa, Italy.)

Background: Influenza is a major public health issue. Indeed, in Italy there were 7.6 million symptomatic cases of influenza in the 2019/2020 influenza season (from October 2019 to April 2020). The aim of this study is to analyse the circulation of influenza A and B viruses in hospitalized adult and elderly patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) at Le Scotte University Hospital in Siena., Methods: Oropharyngeal swabs were taken from SARI patients, who also completed a questionnaire recording their underlying diseases and vaccination status. Total RNA was extracted from each respiratory swab by means of the QIAamp Viral RNA Mini kit, and RT-PCR was carried out. All statistical analyses were performed by means of GraphPad Prism 6 software and STATA., Results: In this study we collected 68 swabs. The average age of subjects was 79.4 years (C.I.: 76.6-82.3) and 52.9% were female. The subjects had fever (89.7%), fatigue (77%), headache (47%), cough (75%), sore throat (70.5%), and breathlessness (63.2%). We found that 20% of the 68 subjects were positive (13% for A H3N2 and 7% for A H1N1). Of the 68 subjects, 25% had received a seasonal influenza vaccine (91.6% trivalent and 8.4% quadrivalent)., Conclusions: Our study is important in order to determine the timing and spread of influenza viruses and track changes in circulating influenza viruses, so as to inform seasonal influenza vaccine composition. Seasonal vaccination is considered the most effective way to prevent influenza and its complications., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement The authors declare no conflict of interest., (©2021 Pacini Editore SRL, Pisa, Italy.)

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is one of the most frequent pathologies in which antibiotics are used because 50% of the exacerbations are attributable to a bacterial infection. The aims of our study were: i) to perform a meta-analysis on the efficacy of the bacterial lysate OM-85 BV in preventing acute exacerbations in patients with COPD; ii) to evaluate whether this preventive treatment can lead to significant savings for the National Health Service (NHS)., Methods: A systematic research was conducted in the electronic database MEDLINE (PubMed) in June 2017-July 2020, collecting evidences without time restrictions. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. The keywords used were "OM 85 BV AND chronic bronchitis" and "OM 85 BV AND COPD". A cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) was performed considering the costs for a treatment with OM-8BV, the costs for the treatment of an acute exacerbation and the number of prevented exacerbations., Results: 59 publications were found, but the meta-analysis was conducted on 13 studies that met the inclusion criteria. OM-85 BV is responsible of a statistically significant reduction in the mean number of COPD exacerbations (p < 0.01; WMD = -0.86; CI 95%: -1.38, -0.34) and in the days of antibiotic therapy (p < 0.01; WMD = -9.49; CI 95%: -11.93, -7.05). The cost-effectiveness ratio with a negative value is in favor to treatment., Conclusions: OM-85 BV is effective in reducing exacerbations, and could lead to significant savings for the NHS. Moreover, reducing the number of exacerbations it could avoid an over-use of antibiotics and the consequent antibiotic resistance., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement The authors declare no conflict of interest., (©2021 Pacini Editore SRL, Pisa, Italy.)

Introduction: In recent times, improved diagnostic techniques have revealed an alarming number of cases of mucormycosis in immunocompetent individuals. The Saksenaea species, is a rare cause of mucormycosis, and is often associated with skin and subcutaneous infection due to trauma in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent subjects. The purpose of this study was therefore, through a review of the literature, to investigate the problem of infections caused by Saksenaea Erythrospora, evaluating the clinical manifestations of the infection, the triggering factors, the therapies and patients' outcomes, implementing and updating what already reported in literature., Methods: A research of peer-reviewed literature in the electronic databases MEDLINE (PubMed) and Scopus was conducted in the period June 2020-January 2021 using the key word "Saksenaea erythrospora". Studies in Italian, English, French, Spanish focused on cases of Saksenaea erythrospora were included, without time restrictions. Studies that provided ambiguous or insufficient data were excluded., Results: Bibliographic research yielded 23 publications; 7 were included in the review. The studies were published between 2011 and 2015 and involved a total of 11 patients of average age 37.9 years (SD 17.23) hospitalized in several hospitals in: USA, India, Argentina, Colombia, Thailand. 6 patients were women, 5 men. All patients had an almost normal immune status. The causes of the infection were: injections, traumas, surgery. Two patients, despite surgical and medical therapy, died., Conclusions: Our review partially updated what already published, because only one new study was found. Serious necrotizing infections from Saksenaea erythrospora have been observed in recent years and a early identification and timely management are essential to reduce morbidity and mortality. A greater awareness and education about the risks deriving from carrying out surgical procedures abroad, especially in precarious hygiene situations, could be additional effective weapons to reduce the incidence of these infections., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement The authors declare no conflict of interest., (©2021 Pacini Editore SRL, Pisa, Italy.)