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Background and Aim: Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is usually managed by conservative treatment, but in selected cases, especially in the presence of a tubo‐ovarian abscess (TOA), surgical management is a recognized treatment option. We compared the trends in managing PID and short‐term outcomes before and during the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. Methods: This is a retrospective study performed in three Italian gynecological centers. We included patients admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of PID. Demographic characteristics, management, time to diagnosis, and time to treatment were compared before versus during the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. Results: One hundred nineteen PID patients were screened, eighty‐one before the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic, and thirty‐eight after the onset. At admission, leukocytosis (median 19.73 vs. 13.99 WBC/mm3, p‐value = 0.02) was significantly higher in patients who underwent surgery after the onset of the pandemic. TOA incidence was higher in patients who underwent surgery during the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic, but the difference did not reach statistically significance (p = 0.06). The proportion of patients treated with surgery dropped to 26.3% after the onset from 46% of patients before the onset of pandemic (p = 0.03). Furthermore, a higher percentage of emergency surgical procedures on day 0 of hospital admission were performed after the onset of the pandemic (50% vs. 13.1%, p = 0.01). Conclusions: In this retrospective cohort study, we found that the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic influenced the clinical presentation and management of PID in favor of conservative treatment. Patients who underwent surgery during the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic had higher inflammatory markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The growing importance of psychological recovery for patients and their families following intensive care unit (ICU) experiences in recent years cannot be overemphasized. The ICU diary is used to aid patients in reducing the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. The usefulness of maintaining a diary during the grieving process has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Aim: To investigate the role of ICU diaries in the grief process experienced by family members of a person who died in the intensive care unit. Study Design: Nine family members of seven deceased ICU patients with an ICU diary were contacted and interviewed by phone using a semi-structured interview. A qualitative data analysis was performed using thematic synthesis. Setting: Italian general intensive care unit. Findings: Interviewed family members felt that the diary helped them during the grieving process. The return of diaries was desired by family members for support and to remember one's loved one. The diary helped them process their losses in various ways, including signs of evidence of care, emotional involvement, consideration, and coping with grief. Four main themes emerged from the analysis: writing the diary, reading the diary, talking about the diary, and the diary during the grieving process. Conclusions: The overall perception of the ICU diary was positive. The diary mostly helped relatives to "give back something of what we lost". This study also affirms the positive link between ICU diaries and bereavement in Italian ICU. Further studies are required to confirm the usefulness of this tool in the grieving process. Relevance to Clinical Practice: The ICU diary can help patients' family members understand what happened to their loved one and play an important role in the grieving process. The diary served as a valuable source of information that aided in providing bereavement support to the family by helping them to gain a rational and emotional understanding of the patient's death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instagram is the social network with the largest number of adolescent users in Italy; it is also the social network with the largest number of suicide‐related posts. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in Italy in the 15–19 age group. This study aims to describe Italian posts on Instagram related to suicide and to investigate whether there are differences in the number of likes, comments, and hashtags in relation to the characteristics of the posts. We searched for Italian‐language Instagram posts by typing '#suicidio', an Italian translation of the English word 'suicide', and found 303 posts between January and May 2022. Most of the posts were written by ordinary people, while only a small percentage of posts were written by professionals; moreover, the content was predominantly biographical and pro‐suicide, and most posts had no reference to adolescence. Posts with a neutral approach received the most likes, while posts with a negative or positive approach to suicide or that contained references to psychiatric disorders had the most hashtags. These results provide insight regarding guidelines that can be implemented for suicide online prevention and encourage psychologists to enhance online prevention and support using the online community inherent to the Instagram social network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tinnitus is a quite common and bothersome disorder that results in a perceived sound or noise, without an external origin, often causing notable psychological distress. Some interconnections between tinnitus, bodily pain perception, and psychological well‐being were previously reported, thus the relationships between tinnitus and temporomandibular joint (TMJ)‐related muscle issues, resulting in somatosensory tinnitus, must be deeply investigated. This study aims to assess the prevalence of tinnitus in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and to examine the correlation between tinnitus and scales assessing the severity of TMD as well as psychological‐related parameters. Materials and Methods: In this cross‐sectional study, a total of 37 adults with TMD symptoms were enrolled. Diagnostic data were collected using the Axis II of the Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (DC/TMD) and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) questionnaire. Statistical analysis included descriptive assessments and significance was set at p <.05. Results: Individuals with tinnitus and TMD reported a significantly higher number of body pain areas, indicating a link between tinnitus and increased bodily pain perception. Tinnitus did not significantly impact TMJ‐related functions. Significantly higher levels of psychological distress were observed in individuals with tinnitus, as evidenced by elevated scores in depression, generalised anxiety and somatic symptoms. Conclusion: Tinnitus is a complex condition with significant effects on health and well‐being, requiring an interdisciplinary approach for effective evaluation and care. The study provides deep insights into the prevalence of tinnitus in TMD patients, underscoring the need for comprehensive treatment strategies addressing both TMD and tinnitus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been shown that disadvantaged groups who endorse system‐justifying beliefs tend to internalize their state of inferiority by expressing ingroup derogation and opposing collective action for change. In the present research, we recruited women – as disadvantaged group – from different countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy) and examined whether their moral conviction against gender inequality, as an absolute stance that does not tolerate any violation, may interact with and overpower system‐justifying beliefs. Results from three studies provided support for our hypotheses. First, when women held strong moral conviction, they expressed higher identification with their disadvantaged ingroup and, in turn, higher collective action intentions, independent of system‐justifying beliefs. Second, when women held weak moral conviction, higher system‐justifying beliefs reduced women's ingroup identification and, in turn, undermined their collective action intentions. This support is found across different contexts of gender inequality (the gender leadership gap, the gender pay gap, and the gender power imbalance), using different methodological approaches (online survey, online experiment, laboratory experiment). Implications, limits, and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Catheter ablation (CA) is recommended for patients with drug refractory symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF). 'One Shot' catheters have been introduced to simplify CA and cryoballoon ablation (CBA) is spreading rapidly. Few real-world data are available on standard clinical practice, mainly from single-center experience. We aimed to evaluate clinical settings, demographics, and acute procedural outcomes in a large cohort of patients treated with CBA. Methods A total of 903 patients (73% male, mean age 59 ± 11) underwent pulmonary vein CBA. Correlations between the patient's inclusion time and clinical characteristics, procedure duration, acute success rate, and intraprocedural complications were evaluated. Results Seventy-seven percent of patients were affected by paroxysmal AF and 23% by persistent AF. Overall, acute success rate was 97.9% and periprocedural complications were observed in 35 (3.9%) patients, 13 (1.4%) of which were classified as major complications. With respect to the patient's inclusion time analysis, an increase in treatment of persistent AF was observed, a significant decrease in CBA times (procedure, ablation, and fluoroscopy: 136.0 ± 46.5 minutes, 28.8 ± 19.6 minutes, and 34.3 ± 15.4 minutes, respectively) was observed, with comparable acute success rate and intraprocedural complications over time. The rate of major complications was extremely low (1.4%); no death, atrioesophageal fistula, stroke, or other major periinterventional or late complications occurred. Conclusion This series represents the largest experience of CBA in the treatment of AF that also describes the adoption curve of this relatively recent technology. CBA showed an excellent safety profile when performed in a large real-world clinical setting, with satisfactory acute success rate and, on average, short procedural times. Clinical Trial Registration (NCT01007474) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose Playing an instrument implies neuroplasticity in different cerebral regions. This phenomenon has been described in subjects with stroke, suggesting that it could play a role in hand rehabilitation. The aim of this study is to analyse the effectiveness of playing a musical keyboard in improving hand function in subjects with multiple sclerosis. Methods Nineteen hospitalized subjects were randomized in two groups: nine played a turned-on musical keyboard by sequences of fingers movements (audio feedback present) and 10 performed the same exercises on a turned-off musical keyboard (audio feedback absent). Training duration was half an hour per day for 15 days. Primary outcome was the perceived hand functional use measured by ABILHAND Questionnaire. Secondary outcomes were hand dexterity, measured by Nine-Hole Peg Test, and hand strength, measured by Jamar and Pinch dynamometers. Two-way analysis of variance was used for data analysis. Results The interaction time × group was significant ( p = 0.003) for ABILHAND Questionnaire in favour of experimental group (mean between-group difference 0.99 logit [IC95%: 0.44; 1.54]). The two groups showed a significant time effect for all outcomes except for Jamar measure. Discussion Playing a musical keyboard seems a valid method to train the functional use of hands in subjects with multiple sclerosis. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a sample of male workers to estimate public and private wage structures and the public wage premium for Italy. Results from a model with endogenous sector and schooling suggest that public employees have on average lower unobserved wage potentials in both sectors than private employees, but work in the sector where they benefit from a comparative wage advantage. Schooling is positively correlated with wages in both sectors, and controlling for that is crucial to get more reliable estimates and predictions. The associated average unconditional public wage premium is 12 per cent. The net premium is 9 per cent, but not statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing global trend of obesity is a fundamental contributor to the growing prevalence of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of medical abnormalities including impaired glucose and lipid metabolism, obesity and hypertension. Results from animal and human investigations have shown that early life stress can result in weight gain and metabolic changes. Our aim is to investigate whether a particular type of an early adverse event, i.e. parental loss during childhood, is associated with the development of metabolic syndrome in severely obese subjects. One hundred thirty-five consecutive obese patients who were seeking bariatric surgery were assessed for metabolic syndrome according to the Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III criteria. Information regarding the experience of parental separation or bereavement before the age of 17 was collected with the use of a semi-structured interview. In our population, 31.1% of the subjects met the criteria for metabolic syndrome. No significant differences in demographic factors, health habits or psychiatric diagnosis were found between patients with and without coexisting metabolic syndrome. After adjusting for age and gender, multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that both childhood loss of a parent and a body mass index (BMI) value greater than 50 were significant predictors of metabolic syndrome. This study provides preliminary evidence linking childhood parental loss to risk factors for the development of metabolic syndrome. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral Diseases (2011) , 298-303 This study aimed to analyse a case series of microinvasive (tumour thickness <4 mm) stage I oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), with an emphasis on the clinical features of the tumours. In total, 32 microinvasive and 67 non-microinvasive stage I lesions, which had been surgically treated, were retrospectively studied and compared. The data analysed included gender, age, risk habits, clinical appearance, lesion site, symptoms, nodal involvement and outcome. The clinical features of microinvasive lesions meant that, more often than not, they resembled premalignant lesions ( P = 0.008), and diagnosis was mainly based on accurate clinical examination rather than the presence of symptoms ( P = 0.029). During a median follow-up of 4.5 years, one nodal involvement and one cancer-related death were observed in patients with microinvasive lesions. A significantly higher ( P = 0.044) level of nodal involvement was observed in the non-microinvasive lesion group. Stage I OSCC has a favourable prognosis overall, but nodal recurrence is more common in non-microinvasive cancers. As microinvasive lesions tend to present clinically as premalignant lesions, accurate clinical examination is essential if misdiagnosis of early lesions is to be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral Diseases (2011) , 309-313 Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) is associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and resembles graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) both clinically and histologically. The killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes encode a family of receptors expressed on NK and T cells and are supposed to play a significant role in GVHD and HCV infection. The aim of this study was to analyze the association among OLP, HCV infection and variants in KIR gene expression. A total of 81 patients with OLP (36 HCV+ve and 45 HCV−ve) and 217 healthy controls (HCV−ve) were typed for the presence of eight KIR genes and of HLA-Cw* alleles by polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primer. There were no significant differences in the frequency of the KIR genes and HLA-C1/C2 group alleles between cases and controls. We only found a significant difference in the frequency of the gene KIR2DL2 between HCV+ve and HCV−ve OLP patients. The present data suggest that OLP is not associated with particular KIR genes or with HLA-Cw* alleles in patients without HCV infection. Contrarily, the role of the genes in OLP-HCV+ve patients remains unclear and might warrant further researches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry 2011; 21: 119-125 In schoolchildren the most commonly decayed primary teeth are molars affecting proximal adjacent surfaces especially. To determine whether a more acidic plaque in response to sucrose challenge is detected in children with more carious lesions. Plaque pH measurements, using the microtouch technique, were carried out in interproximal spaces between primary molars, in 157 high caries risk children (314 sites and caries status of the 628 proximal surfaces recorded). The area under the curve (AUC and AUC) was analyzed. The AUC and the AUC showed a statistically significant difference between plaque adjacent to proximal surfaces with or without caries. Differences for AUC and AUC were recorded between one decayed surface compared to two decayed surfaces ( P < 0.01) whereas a statistical significant difference was only observed for AUC, when the areas under the curve were obtained near one decayed surface compared to two sound surfaces ( P = 0.04). The higher acidogenicity of the dental plaque found in presence of a proximal carious lesion in primary maxillary molars represents an additional risk factor for the adjacent surface. This finding may help clinicians in treatment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Int J Dent Hygiene , 2011; 68-73 DOI: 10.1111/j.1601-5037.2009.00439.x Commisso L, Monami M, Mannucci E. Periodontal disease and oral hygiene habits in a type 2 diabetic population. Periodontal disease is a serious oral health problem that is observed in patients with diabetes mellitus. The aim of the present study is to observe the oral health condition in a diabetic type 2 population in connection with glycaemic control and lifestyle. A questionnaire was distributed to 118 patients in a centre for diabetics to collect information, such as date of birth, year of onset of diabetes, diabetic parameters, pharmacological therapy and oral hygiene habits. An oral examination was conducted to evaluate the presence of plaque, calculus, tooth mobility, caries and gingivitis. In a sub-group scaling and root planning (SRP) was completed. Thirty-one of 118 patients were edentulous and were excluded from the main analysis. Nearly 60% of patients presented dental plaque and gingivitis. A statistically significant difference in patients with or without a glycaemic control was only observed in women. Patients treated with SRP had significant better oral health and a slight reduction of HbA1c. Poor oral health care was observed in the diabetic population. The high risk of periodontal disease needs the attention of dental hygienist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To compare the clinical and microbiological effects of ultrasonic mechanical instrumentation (UMI) associated to home-care use of amine fluoride/stannous fluoride (AmF/SnF2)-containing mouthrinse and toothpaste in smoker and non-smoker patients affected by generalized aggressive periodontitis (G-AgP) during a recall session of supportive periodontal therapy (SPT). Material and Methods: Thirteen smokers and 25 non-smokers G-AgP patients enrolled in an SPT programme received a single session of UMI associated with homecare use of AmF/SnF2-containing mouthrinse and toothpaste. Clinical and microbiological parameters were assessed pre-treatment, at 6 and 12 weeks posttreatment. Results: In both groups, UMI plus AmF/SnF2-implemented oral hygiene use determined a significant decrease of total bacterial counts, with non-smokers exhibiting a lower count compared with smokers at 12 weeks. No significant differences were observed between smokers and non-smokers in the counts of total pathogens and red complex species at each observation interval. Clinically, a significant reduction of supragingival plaque, gingival inflammation and probing pocket depth was similarly observed in both groups. Conclusions: A combined mechanical/chemical plaque control approach based on UMI and the use of AmF/SnF2 agents resulted in the reduction of supragingival plaque deposits, gingival inflammation and subgingival periodontal pathogens in G-AgP patients during SPT, with no substantial difference between smokers and non-smokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: To validate a tool measuring self‐directed learning (SDL) abilities and to determine these abilities among older individuals attending the University of the Third Age. Background: Health literacy (HL) and SDL abilities have been documented as being closely linked to each other and as prerequisites in enhancing self‐management competences required by older people to protect their health and to manage health issues. Furthermore, individuals with SDL abilities have been documented to have a full understanding of their health treatment prescriptions, to be able to demonstrate increased compliance and to further develop self‐care competences. Design: A validation and a cross‐sectional study design. Methods: A consecutive sample of 313 older people (68.7% female) who attended lessons in two Italian Universities of the Third Age and who were willing to participate in the study were enrolled. The Self‐Rating Scale of Self‐Directed Learning (SRSSDL) validated previously in the healthcare context, was used. Results: At the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the SRSSDL in Older people (SRSSDLO) has demonstrated good psychometric properties: the tool is composed by four factors ("Awareness," "Attitudes," "Availability" and "Motivation") and 13 items. According to the findings, the average SDL score was 54.27 ± 6.69 out of 65, and women achieved significantly higher scores compared with men (54.81 ± 6.69 vs. 53.08 ± 6.54, p =.033), while participants with a university degree (55.95 ± 6.56) or secondary education (54.75 ± 6.13) had higher scores than those with lower secondary education (50.37 ± 7.34, p =.002). Conclusions: Participants were responsible for their learning processes and were capable of identifying learning needs and goals. They were also internally motivated to develop learning methods and to organise learning activities. However, they were less able to keep up to date with the learning resources available. Implications for Practice: The SRSSDLO can help nurses identify healthy older people that lack SDL abilities and design tailored educational interventions to prevent health conditions and/or promote self‐care management in chronic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess knowledge, risk perception and behaviours of a sample of swimming pool users in Palermo. A total of 498 subjects were interviewed by self-administered anonymous questionnaire including socio-demographic questions, knowledge/risk perception and behaviours. Overall, 289 subjects (58%) had a mean of 1.9±1.2 healthy behaviours. Age older than 30 years (OR=0.46; 95% CI=0.26–0.81), female sex (OR=0.52; 95% CI=0.35–0.76) and a high knowledge score (OR=0.15; 95% CI=0.03–0.69) were significantly associated with having healthy behaviours in both univariate and multivariate analysis. Unhealthy behaviours can be frequently found in swimming pool bathers and, particularly, in some target groups. Public health prevention strategies should be implemented to improve public awareness and information on a safe use of recreational water environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]