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• The Italian version of Multidimensional Driving Style inventory was developed. • A Psychometric analysis showed similar parameters between Italian and the original Israeli version of questionnaire. • Even if the traffic rules are different, the driving style is considered in the same way in Italy and Israel. • The usefulness of the MDSI in assessing driving style was confirmed. Self-evaluating methods are frequently used to identify driving styles. Among others, one of the most commonly used questionnaires is the Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory (MDSI), developed for the Israeli population. Because of the extensive use of the questionnaire, the present paper aims to validate an Italian version and to confirm the 8-factor structure of the original one, i.e, dissociative, anxious, risky, angry, high-velocity, distress-reduction, patient, and careful driving style. The Italian version of the MDSI was filled out by 561 Italian drivers, who had a driving license for at least 1 year. A confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) was conducted on the 44-item of the translated questionnaire showing not so good values of the goodness of fit tests (SRMR = 0.085; RMSEA = 0.063). The total-item correlation of each scale indicated that 4 items had a low index of total-item correlation. A second CFA was conducted on the remaining 40 items: goodness fit parameters improved (SRMR = 0.0685, RMSEA = 0.0584). Previous validations of the original version of MDSI for different populations (Argentine, Romanian, Chinese, Malaysian, Butch and Belgian) showed several critical issues in confirming the original structure. In the Italian version of MDSI validated in the present paper, the original 8-factor structure was confirmed by removing the 4 items which did not properly contribute to the factors. The results not only confirmed the usefulness of the MDSI in assessing driving style but they also indicated that the concept of driving style is considered in the same way in Italy and Israel, even though traffic rules are different. The latter consideration raises interesting questions for future research concerning cross-cultural comparisons of driving behavior in different countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pediatric obesity has been described by the World Health Organization as 1 of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. Projections of increasing burdens of pediatric obesity and its related diseases on society highlight the need for urgent and substantial action. Many scientific and public debates about the prevention of childhood obesity are centered around simple dichotomies presenting a single-level solution. In contrast, efficient prevention programs should overcome these overly simplistic dichotomies and proceed in the early years of life within the family environment and the whole society, throughout one's lifetime. Food policies have the potential to counteract pediatric obesity by creating healthy food environments. However, the current food policies approach lacks monitoring indicators to assess short- and long-term impact, and is not well integrated into regional, national, and cross-cutting initiatives. Therefore, redesigning and rethinking food policy strategies and goals is an important opportunity to address childhood obesity, safeguard the planet, and contribute to economic and social prosperity., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Life Sciences Institute. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Urban agriculture has become a common form of urban land use in European cities linked to multiple environmental, social and economic benefits, as well as to diversified forms (from self-production allotments to high-tech companies). Social acceptance will determine the development of urban agriculture and specific knowledge on citizens' perception is required in order to set the basis for policy-making and planning. The ecosystem services provided by urban agriculture can be determinant in this process. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the social acceptance and the perceived ecosystem services of urban agriculture in the city of Bologna (Italy), as an example of a Southern European city. In particular, we evaluated the preferences for urban land uses, for different typologies of urban agriculture and for the resulting products, the perceived provision of ecosystem services and the willingness to engage in new initiatives. A survey that investigated these topics (including open questions, closed questions and Likert-scale evaluation) was performed on the citizens of Bologna (n = 380) between October and November 2016. Results showed that urban agriculture is widely accepted by the inhabitants of Bologna, particularly regarding vegetable production. Although intensive farming systems were the least preferred forms to be implemented in Bologna, citizens highly accepted a large variety of urban agriculture goods, with preference for those obtained from plants as compared to animal products. The willingness-to-pay for urban food products was mostly the same as for conventional ones, although the participants recognised the social values, proximity and quality of the former. Socio-cultural ecosystem services were perceived as more valuable than environmental ones. Policy-making recommendations can be extracted from the results to facilitate the development of urban agriculture plans and policies., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.