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BackgroundHealthcare workers (HCW) are at increased risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, yet limited information is available on risk factors of infection.MethodsWe pooled data on occupational surveillance of 10,654 HCW who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection in six Italian centers. Information was available on demographics, job title, department of employment, source of exposure, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and COVID-19-related symptoms. We fitted multivariable logistic regression models to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).FindingsThe prevalence of infection varied across centers and ranged from 3.0% to 22.0%, being strongly correlated with that of the respective areas. Women were at lower risk of infection compared to men. Fever, cough, dyspnea and malaise were the symptoms most strongly associated with infection, together with anosmia and ageusia. No differences in the risk of infection were detected between job titles, or working in a COVID-19 designated department. Reported contact with a patient inside or outside the workplace was a risk factor. Use of a mask was strongly protective against risk of infection as was use of gloves. The use of a mask by the source of exposure (patient or colleague) had an independent effect in reducing infection risk.

This work, in addition to the peculiar medical aspects of the children obesity, synthesize the experimental findings about the main plasmatic antioxidants (uric acid, ascorbic acid, retinol, coenzyme Q10, lycopene) and the platelet fatty acids profile in groups of children according to the following BMI criteria: 43 with a BMI ranging between 25 and 29; 43 with a BMI ranging between 21.7 e 22.9 and 20 with a BMI ranging between 18.5 e 20; average age 10.49 +/- 2.66. The antioxidants show a particular behaviour: in fact they decrease according to the BMI recorded within the groups. About this issue the international literature is not consistent. Probably different results can be found in more severe condition of obesity. Another important result is for the platelet fatty acid, independently from the BMI, weight etc. compared to the other subjects. The difference found is for the stearic acid, from 15 to 21 point of percentage, compared to all the other groups investigated. In agreement with the international literature, stearic acid seems to have an important role in the control of the platelet activation. This finding, could offer a better possibility to understand the progression of the atherosclerosis towards the ischemic condition, according to the age. The utilisation of particular mathematic models, the Artificial Neural Network, beyond the normal advanced statistic methods, has open to the understanding of phenomena, otherwise, inexplicable. With the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) it has been possible to classify the children using the ANN map built for the depressive condition (platelet fatty acids markers: palmitic acid, linoleic acid, arachidonic acid) and the ANN map built for the ischemic condition (platelet fatty acids markers: oleic acid, linoleic acid, arachidonic acid). Examining the maps, a certain percentage of children seems to be at high risk for several psychiatric conditions with respect to the major depression, while for the ischemic pathology the children are in the same position of the ischemic subjects. Because we know that the children are not ischemic, probably they have the same biochemical characteristics but are protected by the high level of stearic acid and by the high degree of saturation of the platelets. For this reason, children cannot belong to the map area of the major depression, which, in turn, is characterized by a very high degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids. Further studies are needed to better understand the complex situation of the children from the biochemical and psychiatric point of view.

During the last 30 years, a huge research has been performed about the markers involved in the atherogenetic process and in the fatty acid thrombogenetic effect. More recently many studies have been made on the biochemical aspects of the saturated fatty acids with respect to the cardiovascular risk, in particular, the Stearic Acid (SA). Because of the peculiar characteristic of the platelets in the control of the thrombogenetic risk, we have investigated the platelet fatty acid profile in three groups of subjects: supposed healthy (n = 60), ischemic (n = 50), young children (n = 118). The aim of the study was to understand wich of the fatty acids could be evaluated as markers of the ischemic cardiovascular pathology and to have the possibility to classifie the subjects using the artificial neural network (ANN) system. The results highlight the peculiar position of the Oleic Acid, Linoleic Acid and Arachidonic Acid. According to the ANN results of the ischemic subjects, the young children were in the same position. Because this result is not commonly accepted, as children are healty, we have looked for a reason. There are well strong reasons to believe that all this is due to the stearic acid wich is extremely higher than the stearic acid of all the other subjects investigated. Particularly it has been underlined the possibility to modify the platelet stearic and oleic acid to obtain a better saturation index (Stearic/Oleic ratio). This could bring to a better control of the cardiovascular risk. It is possible, according with the results obtained, to open a new field of research on the lipid metabolism of the young children in relation to the atherogenesis. It is the first time that an observation on the platelet membrane phospholipid stearic acid is made in comparison to other adult subjects and a plausible explanation is given about the protection of the young children against the cardiovascular disease.

Background: Ionizing radiation and mesothelioma have been examined among personnel employed in nuclear power plant and patients treated by external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). The association is still controversial; the purpose of this review is to summarize the scientific evidence published in the literature regarding the relationship between ionizing radiation and incidence of mesothelioma and, if possible, estimating strongness of the association by meta-analysis of extracted data. Methods: Articles included in the systematic review were retrieved by searching among the three main scientific databases: PubMed, Scopus, and Embase. The literature search was conducted in June 2021. A meta-analysis of random effects was conducted, stratified by exposure (EBRT, occupational exposure). The heterogeneity of the summary relative risks (RRs) was assessed using I2statistics. Publication bias was evaluated graphically through the funnel plot. Findings: The exposure to ionizing radiation could be a risk factor for mesothelioma: both for exposure to high doses for short periods (EBRT) (RR of 3.34 [95% confidence interval, CI 1.24–8.99]) and for exposure to low doses for a prolonged duration (exposure working) (RR of 3.57 [95% CI 2.16–5.89]). Conclusions: Despite the low number of mesotheliomas in the general population, the steadily increased risk among individuals exposed to radiation is still worth considering.

Cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) is a capillary malformation arising in the central nervous system. CCM may occur sporadically or cluster in families with autosomal dominant transmission, incomplete penetrance, and variable expressivity. Three genes are associated with CCM KRIT1, CCM2, and PDCD10. This work is a retrospective single-center molecular study on samples from multiple Italian clinical providers. From a pool of 317 CCM index patients, we found germline variants in either of the three genes in 80 (25.2%) probands, for a total of 55 different variants. In available families, extended molecular analysis found segregation in 60 additional subjects, for a total of 140 mutated individuals. From the 55 variants, 39 occurred in KRIT1 (20 novel), 8 in CCM2 (4 novel), and 8 in PDCD10 (4 novel). Effects of the three novel KRIT1 missense variants were characterized in silico. We also investigated a novel PDCD10 deletion spanning exon 4-10, on patient's fibroblasts, which showed significant reduction of interactions between KRIT1 and CCM2 encoded proteins and impaired autophagy process. This is the largest study in Italian CCM patients and expands the known mutational spectrum of KRIT1, CCM2, and PDCD10. Our approach highlights the relevance of seeking supporting information to pathogenicity of new variants for the improvement of management of CCM.