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Clinical research is vital in supporting evidence-based practice. However, several barriers make participation in research difficult. We performed a survey to evaluate the attitude to research of the members of the Italian Anticoagulation Clinics. The survey includes 19 closed questions on the perception of participating in research and exploring the benefit that health professionals wish to obtain. A total of 167 questionnaires were returned from 97/220 (44.1%) Centers, of which 89.7% were not academic. Participants (median age 56 years, range 29-75y; 56.3% females) were equally distributed all over the country; 151/167 (90.4%) of respondents believe that participating in research helps to reduce the routine of their work and allows a better quality of work, 72/167 (43.1%) complain heavy workload. More than 74% of respondents would like to participate in scientific meetings, without difference in relation to age. Instead, inclusion in the authorship of a scientific paper is of relevance for 75.6% of respondents =50 years and for 65.2% of respondents >50 years. A substantial positive attitude towards research was evident, suggesting that independent scientific societies could be of valuable support for the growth of research culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Objectives: To investigate whether the FII A(20210) mutation is associated with isolated pulmonary embolism (PE).Design: Case-control study.Setting: Five thrombosis centers in southern Italy.Patients: Six hundred forty-seven consecutive referred patients with objectively documented venous thrombosis and 1,329 control subjects.Measurements and Results: Medical histories were collected. The G-to-A transition at nucleotide 1691 within the factor V gene (FV Leiden) and the G-to-A transition at nucleotide position 20210 within the prothrombin gene locus (FII A(20210)), levels of anticoagulant factors, and levels of antiphospholipid antibodies were determined by standard techniques. Patients with deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of the lower extremities (n = 346) or with additional PEs (n = 175) showed similar prevalences of FV Leiden mutation (24.3% and 16.6%, respectively) and FII A(20210) mutation (14.2% and 12.6%, respectively), and similar deficiencies of natural anticoagulants (4.9% and 2.3%, respectively). In both groups, the frequencies of FV Leiden and/or FII A(20210) mutation were higher than those observed among 1,329 apparently healthy control subjects (4.8% and 4.4%, respectively; p < 0.0001). Among patients with isolated PE (n = 126), prevalences of FV Leiden (7.1%) and FII A(20210) mutation (8.7%) were similar to those of control subjects. Inherited thrombophilic abnormalities were less frequent among patients with PE only (15.6%) than among those with DVT only (37.0%; p < 0.001) or whose conditions were complicated by PE (28. 0%; p = 0.020). Adjusting for age and sex, FV Leiden mutation, FII A(20210) mutation, or both mutations were associated with DVT with PE (FV Leiden mutation: odds ratio [OR], 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.6 to 5.5; FII A(20210) mutation: OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1. 3 to 5.2; and both mutations: OR, 82.1; 95% CI, 7.5 to 901.2) or without PE (FV Leiden mutation: OR, 6.1; 95% CI, 4.0 to 9.3; FII A(20210) mutation: OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.7 to 4.8; and both mutations: OR, 167.5; 95% CI, 21.6 to 1,297.7), but not with isolated PE (FV Leiden mutation: OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.5 to 2.8; FII A(20210) mutation: OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.5 to 3.1; and both mutations: OR, 22.1; 95% CI, 1. 3 to 370.2).Conclusions: FII A(20210) mutation is associated with DVT in the lower extremities alone or when complicated by PE, but it is not associated with isolated PE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]