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Psoriasis causes detriment in a person's physical, mental and social health which impairs their quality of life (QoL). However, the current psoriasis management may not adequately address all relevant health domains. Since the goal of healthcare is to restore or maintain health, health outcomes should include all areas of the patient's overall health. Life satisfaction, QoL and patient well‐being are essential to a comprehensive approach to the disease. With the inclusion of more people‐centred policies, care of patients with psoriasis should evolve towards a holistic and integrated assessment of the disease impact, including subjective measures of well‐being in order to encompass all aspects of health. The main objective of this expert review is to give the concept of well‐being a place as an entity within the holistic therapeutic approach for patients with psoriasis. Identifying and defining common goals beyond the skin with the patient and testing them throughout the course of treatment will benefit and enhance treatment success. We propose a series of recommendations for application in clinical practice, providing tangible clinical guidance for implementing well‐being in the management of psoriasis. Among the recommendations are the need to initially listen to the patient, to know their level of empowerment or what they want to achieve, their preferences in decision making, the evaluation of not only the physical but also the emotional impact of the disease (well‐being), the definition of the aspects that can generate a cumulative deterioration of the disease throughout life, and a continuous assessment of the patient's preferences with the opinion of the expert clinician and the integration of the knowledge of external clinical evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past three decades, Italy has changed from a country of emigration to one of immigration. This has produced significant changes in the country's social, cultural and economic structures and poses major new challenges to the education system. An important indicator of the changing situation is the increasing number of immigrant children attending Italian schools. This article presents the findings of a study conducted in upper secondary schools in Trento (a province in north-eastern Italy). The study was designed to explore the educational performance and attitudes of Italian and non-Italian students and their friendships. Data were gathered during the 2005/06 school year by means of a questionnaire distributed to 1279 students in 72 classrooms. The sample's diverse composition allowed us to assess differences, according to ethnic background, in student attitudes towards learning as well as their scholastic performance. Finally, we looked at classroom composition in terms of foreign student numbers. (Contains 7 tables, 2 figures and 17 notes.)

Aim Loss of immunosuppressive response supports inflammation during atherosclerosis. We tested whether adoptive cell therapy (ACT) with Tregulatory cells (Tregs), engineered to selectively migrate in the atherosclerotic plaque, would dampen the immune-inflammatory response in the arterial wall in animal models of familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). Methods and results FH patients presented a decreased Treg suppressive function associated to an increased inflammatory burden. A similar phenotype was observed in Ldlr −/− mice accompanied by a selective increased expression of the chemokine CX3CL1 in the aorta but not in other districts (lymph nodes, spleen, and liver). Treg overexpressing CX3CR1 were thus generated (CX3CR1+-Tregs) to drive Tregs selectively to the plaque. CX3CR1+-Tregs were injected (i.v.) in Ldlr −/− fed high-cholesterol diet (western type diet, WTD) for 8 weeks. CX3CR1+-Tregs were detected in the aorta, but not in other tissues, of Ldlr −/− mice 24 h after ACT, corroborating the efficacy of this approach. After 4 additional weeks of WTD, ACT with CX3CR1+-Tregs resulted in reduced plaque progression and lipid deposition, ameliorated plaque stability by increasing collagen and smooth muscle cells content, while decreasing the number of pro-inflammatory macrophages. Shotgun proteomics of the aorta showed a metabolic rewiring in CX3CR1+-Tregs treated Ldlr −/− mice compared to controls that was associated with the improvement of inflammation-resolving pathways and disease progression. Conclusion ACT with vasculotropic Tregs appears as a promising strategy to selectively target immune activation in the atherosclerotic plaque. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]