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We investigated the extent to which adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) in combination with Mediterranean lifestyle factors influenced students' perceptions of subjective well-being (SWB) and distress. 939 undergraduates completed a survey to assess sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics, including adherence to the MD, depression, anxiety, stress, and SWB. Data were analysed with correlation, logistic, and multiple linear regression models. Higher adherence to MD correlated with better SWB. Fruit, red meat, sweet and caffeinated beverages contributed significantly. However, it was the combination of adherence to MD with other factors, including quality of social relationships, income, smoking, sleep, and physical activity that better predicted SWB. Our results confirm the positive influence of MD on SWB. However, they also suggest the need to consider perceptions of well-being by a more holistic approach that considers physical and social factors simultaneously to improve the development of more effective educational and motivational programmes.

We investigated the prevalence and intensity of symptoms and the use of drugs for symptom control among all HIV-infected patients reporting to the outpatient clinics or wards of 15 clinical centres in central Italy, recording clinical and epidemiological data on three consecutive days. A total of 1128 patients were observed and tabulated. Their most frequent symptoms were asthenia (65%), anorexia (34%), cough (32%), pain (29%), and fever (29%). Opioid analgesics were used in 3% of these patients and non-opioid analgesics in 13%. A large majority of HIV-infected patients presented with symptoms regardless of the stage of their disease. Pain was present in fewer than one third of patients but nonetheless seemed to be undertreated. Pain was more frequent and more intense among intravenous drug users. Based on our study, a greater effort to control symptoms in HIV patients seems to be warranted.

Findings from a seroepidemiological survey of Leishmania infantum (LI) infection are presented. Among residents in the province of Rome, 2.7% (4.4% in the city of Rome and 1% in the suburbs) of 374 adults were positive for specific LI antibodies in indirect haemoagglutination studies. Among 217 adult residents of Caltanissetta province (Sicily), 4.1% were positive for LI antibodies (4.2% in Caltanissetta city and 4% in the suburbs). Serological tests for LI antibodies were also carried out on stray dogs captured in Rome. 5% of them resulted positive. Our findings show that LI infection is moderately present in both Rome and Caltanissetta, the latter being an area of known endemicity. According to our data, LI infections are usually asymptomatic: none of the positive subjects had a history of visceral leishmaniasis, and none of the seropositive dogs showed any sign or symptom correlated to leishmaniasis.