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Objective: Single cases and small series of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) have been reported during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak worldwide. We evaluated incidence and clinical features of GBS in a cohort of patients from two regions of northern Italy with the highest number of patients with COVID-19., Methods: GBS cases diagnosed in 12 referral hospitals from Lombardy and Veneto in March and April 2020 were retrospectively collected. As a control population, GBS diagnosed in March and April 2019 in the same hospitals were considered., Results: Incidence of GBS in March and April 2020 was 0.202/100 000/month (estimated rate 2.43/100 000/year) vs 0.077/100 000/month (estimated rate 0.93/100 000/year) in the same months of 2019 with a 2.6-fold increase. Estimated incidence of GBS in COVID-19-positive patients was 47.9/100 000 and in the COVID-19-positive hospitalised patients was 236/100 000. COVID-19-positive patients with GBS, when compared with COVID-19-negative subjects, showed lower MRC sum score (26.3±18.3 vs 41.4±14.8, p=0.006), higher frequency of demyelinating subtype (76.6% vs 35.3%, p=0.011), more frequent low blood pressure (50% vs 11.8%, p=0.017) and higher rate of admission to intensive care unit (66.6% vs 17.6%, p=0.002)., Conclusions: This study shows an increased incidence of GBS during the COVID-19 outbreak in northern Italy, supporting a pathogenic link. COVID-19-associated GBS is predominantly demyelinating and seems to be more severe than non-COVID-19 GBS, although it is likely that in some patients the systemic impairment due to COVID-19 might have contributed to the severity of the whole clinical picture., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

This paper addresses femicide in Italy. The assumption is that femicide is not a discrete act of killing a woman. It is assumed that depending on the types of relationship between the victim and the perpetrator (e.g., known versus unknown, intimate versus acquaintance), the risk processes may differ. When femicide involves the killing of an intimate partner, it is likely to be characterized by sustained and escalating intimate partner violence (IPV) that can reach its climax with extreme acts of violence that lead to intimate partner femicide (IPF). Eighty-six cases of femicide that occurred in North-West Italy between 1993 and 2013 were examined in this study. Findings suggest that femicide was disproportionately perpetrated by intimate partners (current or past), rather than strangers. IPF was likely to be the epilogue of an abusive relationship, with high levels of contentiousness and conflicts being the frequent significant precursors. Non-intimate partner femicide (NPF) was more likely to be characterized by antisocial or predatory motives, highly frequent when the victims were prostitutes.These preliminary findings suggest that joint scientific, professional, and political efforts are paramount in order to address strategies aimed at assessing the differential risk of IPV early in time so as to prevent it from escalating into IPF or NPF and to provide the appropriate support for victims and their families.

The prevalence of anti HIV antibodies was investigated in the sera of 150 drug addicts and of 62 patients not drug addicts hospitalized in the Institute of Infectious diseases of the University of Sassari in the years 1980-86. No seropositivity was detected in not drug addicts patients in the years of observation and in the drug addict ones in the years 1980-81-82. The seropositivity discovered in 1983 in 24% of drug addicts raised to 75% in the first 8 months of 1986. As regards the prevalence of anti HIV antibodies in 1986 the sera of different categories were investigated. Seropositivity was detected in 55% of 20 drug addicts prisoners, in 6.25% of 16 homosexual men, 13 of which prisoners and 3 drug addicts, in 3.7% of 27 transfused individuals, 26 of which under dyalitical treatment, and in 33.3% of sexual partners of HIV positive patients. Anti HIV antibodies were not detected in the sera of 20 laboratory workers, 22 prisoners with a negative history for homosexuality and drug addiction, 45 prison guards and 100 individuals taken at random from general population. The stages of infection in 27 drug addicts were classified according to Atlanta CDC criteria as follows: 63% of cases asymptomatic, 22.2% persistent generalized lymphoadenopathy, 7.4% minor clinical features, 3.7% serious clinical picture, 3.7% full clinical picture of AIDS.