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The area of mental health is directly affected by the pandemic and its consequences, for various reasons: 1-the pandemic triggered a global lockdown, with dramatic socioeconomic and therefore psychosocial implications; 2-mental health services, which treat by definition a fragile population from the psychological, biological and social points of view, have a complex organizational frame, and it was expected that this would be affected (or overwhelmed) by the pandemic; 3-mental health services should, at least in theory, be able to help guide public health policies when these involve a significant modification of individual behaviour. It was conducted a narrative review of the publications produced by European researchers in the period February-June 2020 and indexed in PubMed. A total of 34 papers were analyzed, which document the profound clinical, organizational and procedural changes introduced in mental health services following this exceptional and largely unforeseen planetary event.Among the main innovations recorded everywhere, the strong push towards the use of telemedicine techniques should be mentioned: however, these require an adequate critical evaluation, which highlights their possibilities, limits, advantages and disadvantages instead of simple triumphalist judgments. Furthermore, should be emphasized the scarcity of quantitative studies conducted in this period and the absence of studies aimed, for example, at exploring the consequences of prolonged and forced face-to-face contact between patients and family members with a high index of "expressed emotions".

Objective: Aim of the paper is to examine the characteristics and the trend of mortality in immigrants in Tuscany in the last decade, and to compare it with that observed in Italians resident in the same region., Design: it is a descriptive study using the data 1997- 2008 of the Regional Mortality Registry of Tuscany., Setting and Participants: Immigrants have been defined those who are resident in Tuscany with non Italian citizenship.They have been classified in immigrants from countries at high migration rates (PFPM) and immigrants from developed countries (PSA)., Main Outcome Measures: Proportional mortality for the period 1997-2008 and trends of standardized (standard: European population) mortality truncated rates (20-64 years) per 100 000 in the period 2002-2008 by citizenship (PFPM, PSA and Italians), gender, age-class and causes of death., Results: In the period 1997-2008, in Tuscany, 4 755 deaths have been registered in immigrants: 3 055 residents (1 782 from PFPM and 1 273 from PSA) and 1 700 not residents. Trends for all and the main causes of death show an increasing gap in mortality between immigrants from PFPM and Italians, with higher rates for Italians.On the contrary infant mortality is higher in children from PFPM and the gap is increasing in the last years. Also the mortality for accidents (1° and 3° cause of death respectively in male and female PFPM) and the mortality for infectious diseases are higher in PFPM immigrants., Conclusion: Mortality study on immigrants in Tuscany highlighted specific health problems of this population deriving from living conditions in the home country as well in the host country. It will be necessary to continue to monitor the mortality trend and characteristics of this population because it represents a good indirect tool to evaluate his socioeconomic integration (considering also his use of our health system), and because this population is still expected to raise in the next decades.

Objective: the study describes the burden of the Italian epidemiological research compared to that of the other 26 countries belonging to the European Union and to that of the United States, in the period 2007-2009. This is accomplished for both scientific published papers and grants obtained., Design and Setting: the searching in Medline database (February 2010) was done through complex search strings based on keywords corresponding to the various epidemiological research fields; grants were identified through 7th Framework Program (FP7), among those funded within February 2010., Main Outcome Measures: proportions of epidemiological papers published by researchers of the different countries and total number and amount of granted research projects for each European country., Results: in the period 2007-2009 epidemiological papers by Italian researchers account for about one-eighth of the total European production. This makes of Italy the second country in production, after the United Kingdom. Moreover, Italy is involved in 51.3%of the 374 studies granted through FP7: at least one Italian research body participates in 154 projects and Italian researches co-ordinate 38 projects., Conclusion: in Italy biomedical and epidemiological research is in a developing phase despite the difficulties due to the decrease in the amount of funds available.Moreover, Italian research is carried out mainly by public bodies and by Universities, even if a deeper involvement of local health authorities and regional agencies is desirable.

Objective: the present introductory paper illustrates the general framework of the Project EpiAir <>, of the Italian Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Italian Ministry of Health. The project was designed to provide methods and criteria for epidemiological surveillance of the health effects of air pollution in large Italian cities., Method: we considered the relevant information available on the health effects of air pollution in Europe and in Italy, and the aspects critical to running a surveillance program., Results: the project made available a system of data and information to evaluate the health effects of air pollution. Health outcomes of interest are daily mortality (non accidental causes, cardiovascular, and respiratory causes) and cardiorespiratory hospital admissions. The project collected standardized data for the years 2001-2005 in ten Italian cities (Turin, Milan, Mestre, Bologna, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Taranto, Palermo, Cagliari). A network of public institutions in the field of environmental control and public health participated in the project. The surveillance system was set up for the period 2001- 2005 in order to evaluate future trends in the environmental and health circumstances (2006-2010) using reliable and standardized methods., Conclusion: we set up a long-term surveillance program of the health effects of air pollution.

In Italy during the last three decades important changes in employment have occurred. During the '70s, thanks to a variety of factors, the hygiene conditions of work have undergone a process of slow, but gradual improvement, which has not been arrested during the following decades. New legislation, partly deriving from European directives, has been introduced, and processes of outsourcing have moved the most burdensome and pollutants industrial productions to developing countries. Nevertheless, the estimates of the number of exposed (or even potentially so) workers, to carcinogens remain quite high. Currently, in absence of the planned National Information System on Prevention, it is impossible to estimate in how many and which workplaces primary prevention plans and facilities have been already installed. This paper aims to describe the situation related to most occupationally diffused carcinogenic agents: asbestos, wood and crystalline silica dusts, each one for its specificity. It also describes the innovations introduced by the most recent legislation, in particular with regard to the asbestos risk control. Finally, it stresses the need for a reform of the insurance premiums in order to introduce a mechanism for rewarding those employers who implement primary prevention facilities and penalizing those who don't. The economic advantages should gradually cover the cost of risk control technology.

The present paper focuses on the Italian registries: their actual achievements, future developments and the possible critical states. The present setting is analysed in perspective with the international and European framework of cancer registries. Given the recent development of new cancer registries in Italy, and their participation to traditional and new international publication of their data, there is an increasing delay in publication time, both in Italy and abroad International and national institutions played an important role in helping and supporting registries' development, but delays in publications and some uncertainty in coordinating incidence and survival analyses in a unique framework is posing an unavoidable challenge.

During the '80s, evidence was collected that air pollutants concentrations close to, or lower than, air quality standards could negatively influence public health at short term, i.e. within a few days. The European Union financed, between 1993 and 1995, the study "Short term effects of Air Pollution on Health: a European Approach using epidemiological time-series data" (APHEA-1 project), involving more than 25 millions inhabitants in 15 cities, investigated between 1977 and 1991. In this paper, the main results, already published in various scientific journals, are reported. The health effects were studied as mortality for natural causes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and as emergency hospital admissions for all respiratory diseases, bronchial asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The pollutants whose measures were available for the analysis are sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter (PM) measured either as black smoke or total suspended particulate, and ozone (O3). The analysis was carried out by each participating group following a detailed protocol, defined during various workshops, through the construction of Poisson regression models, adjusted for autocorrelation and overdispersion, accounting for variables influencing the daily count of deaths, such as long time trends, season, temperature, day of the week. This paper reports the results of the meta-analysis, performed using the values of each city, as relative risk of dying or being admitted to hospital associated with increases of 50 micrograms/m3 in the 24 hours average concentrations of each pollutant. The daily number of natural deaths was associated with increases in the levels of PM, SO2, O3, and NO2. Cardiovascular and respiratory deaths were associated with increases of the levels of PM, SO2, and O3; cardiovascular deaths were associated also with increases of NO2 concentrations. Emergency hospital admissions for the whole group of respiratory disorders are less consistently associated with PM, SO2, and NO2, whereas there is evidence of association with O3. COPD admissions are related to the air pollutant levels, especially those of O3. Lastly, NO2 levels may play a role in exhacerbating asthma, and SO2 levels can have an effect on asthma in children. A second study is currently going on, involving over 40 millions residents in 34 cities. The aims of this project are: to evaluate the dose-response relationship, to investigate on synergy among pollutants, on the "harvesting" phenomenon, on the geographical differences inside Europe and with the U.S. through the collaboration with a similar American study now in progress. The existence of an association between daily variations in the levels of urban air pollution and adverse health effects was confirmed in Europe. This association is weak, but it involves the whole resident population, so it is a major cause of concern from the public health point of view.

The surveillance of occupationally related disease is a research topic in many countries. A working group on the information system within the Italian Association for Occupational Health has recently proposed to reorganize the national surveillance system. In Epidemiologia e Prevenzione a series of contributions relevant to this issue will be published. This paper reviews the on-going research in our country and abroad (United States, United Kingdom, Scandinavian Countries and Canada).