OBJECTIVE: To analyze the recent severity of COVID-19 in various countries. METHODS: Data were ollected on the epidemic situation of COVID-19 in various countries as of January 16, 2021, and the scale and overall trend of the epidemic were retrospectively described; combined with the recent trend of newly confirmed cases, from January 10 to 16 (the 54th week) and the newly confirmed cases indexes, such as the number and incidence density the severity of the epidemic was classified. Feasible suggestions were put forward based on the variation of the virus, actual data of vaccine research and development and possible existence in many countries. RESULTS: Up to January 16, 2021, there were 92 510 419 confirmed cases worldwide; 4 849 301 new confirmed cases were confirmed in the 54th week, and they were still growing. Among all the continents, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Europe, North America, and Asia has exceeded 21 million, and the number of new confirmed cases in a single week in North America, South America and Asia were all increasing. Among the countries, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in 18 countries including the United States, India, and Brazil was more than 1 million, accounting for 77.04% of the total number of cumulative confirmed cases in the world. Eleven countries including the United States, Brazil, France, Spain, Colombia, The United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, South Africa, Italy, and India are at higher risk of the epidemic; The United States, Brazil, France, Spain, and Colombia were still experiencing new confirmed cases and increasing status, the risk of the epidemic was greater. Novel coronavirus mutates frequently, up to February 2021, there had been 3 931 mutant genotypes in the world. At the same time, a total of 11 vaccines were successfully launched, however we were still facing some troubles, such as the global shortage of vaccines, the public's willingness to vaccinate needed to be improved, and equity in the distribution of vaccines. CONCLUSION The global epidemic situation is still getting worse, with repeated epidemics in all the continents and countries, and has not been fundamentally controlled. At the continent level, North America, South America, and Europe have the most severe epidemics; at the national level, The United States, Brazil, France, Spain, Colombia and other countries have higher epidemic risks. Focusing on the severely affected countries will help bring the global epidemic under control as soon as possible. Under the premise of ensuring the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines, it is a key and feasible direction to improve the yield and vaccination rate of the vaccines, shorten the onset time of the vaccines and prolong the immune persistence.
Asia ; Brazil ; COVID-19 ; Europe ; France ; Humans ; India ; Italy ; North America ; Retrospective Studies ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Spain ; United Kingdom ; United States

OBJECTIVES: In this article, we aim to share our experience in the hospital reorganization made to conduct the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination campaign, based on the principles of flexibility and adaptability. STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive study. METHODS: The data concerning the organization of the vaccination campaign were taken from the operative protocol developed by the hospital dedicated task force, composed by experts in hygiene, public health, occupational medicine, pharmacists, nurses, hospital quality, and disaster managers. Data about the numbers of vaccine administered daily were collected by the Innovation and Development Operative Unit database. RESULTS: Vaccinations against COVID-19 started across the EU on the 27th of December 2020. The first phase of the vaccination campaign carried out in our hospital was directed to healthcare workers immunization including medical residents, social care operators, administrative staff and technicians, students of medicine, and health professions trainees. The second phase was enlarged to the coverage of extremely fragile subjects. Thanks to the massive employment of healthcare workers and the establishment of dynamic pathways, it was possible to achieve short turnaround times and a large number of doses administered daily, with peaks of 870 vaccines per day. From the 27th of December up to the 14th of March a total of 26,341 doses of Pfizer have been administered. 13,584 were first doses and 12,757 were second doses. From the 4th to the 14th of March, 296 first doses of Moderna were dispensed. It was necessary to implement adequate spaces and areas adopting anti-contagion safety measures: waiting area for subjects to be vaccinated, working rooms for the dilution of the vaccine and the storage of the material, vaccination rooms, post-vaccination observation areas, room for observation, and treatment of any adverse reactions, with an emergency cart available in each working area. CONCLUSIONS The teaching hospital of Pisa faced the beginning of the immunization campaign readjusting its spaces, planning an adequate hospital vaccination area and providing an organization plan to ensure the achievement of the targets of the campaign. This represented a challenge due to limited vaccine doses supplied and the multisectoral teams of professionals to coordinate in the shortest time and the safest way possible. The organizational model adopted proved to be adequate and therefore exploited also for the second phase aimed to extremely fragile subjects.
2019-nCoV Vaccine mRNA-1273 ; BNT162 Vaccine ; COVID-19/prevention & control* ; COVID-19 Vaccines/administration & dosage* ; Hospitals, Teaching/organization & administration* ; Humans ; Immunization Programs/organization & administration* ; Italy/epidemiology* ; SARS-CoV-2/immunology*

Anthrax, caused by Bacillus anthracis, is a non-contagious infectious disease that affects a wide range of animal species (primarily ruminants) including humans. Due to the often-fatal outcome in humans, quick administration of definitely effective antimicrobials is crucial either as prophylaxis or as a clinical case therapy. In this study, 110 B. anthracis strains, temporally, geographically, and genetically different, isolated during anthrax outbreaks in Italy from 1984 to 2017, were screened using a broth microdilution method to determine their susceptibility to 16 clinically relevant antimicrobial agents. The strains were isolated from various matrices (human, animal, and environmental samples) and were representative of thirty distinct genotypes previously identified by 15-loci multiple-locus variable-number of tandem repeats analysis. The antimicrobials tested were gentamicin, ceftriaxone, streptomycin, penicillin G, clindamycin, chloramphenicol, vancomycin, linezolid, cefotaxime, tetracycline, erythromycin, rifampin, amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, and trimethoprim. All isolates were susceptible to most of the tested antimicrobials, with the exception of trimethoprim for which all of them showed high minimal inhibitory concentration values. An intermediate level of susceptibility was recorded for ceftriaxone and cefotaxime. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend the use of doxycycline, ciprofloxacin, penicillin G, and amoxicillin for treatment of human cases and for post-exposure prophylaxis to anthrax spores, this study shows a high degree of in vitro susceptibility of B. anthracis to many other antimicrobials, suggesting the possibility of an alternative choice for prophylaxis and therapy.
Amoxicillin ; Animals ; Anthrax ; Anti-Infective Agents ; Bacillus anthracis ; Bacillus ; Cefotaxime ; Ceftriaxone ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Chloramphenicol ; Ciprofloxacin ; Clindamycin ; Communicable Diseases ; Disease Outbreaks ; Doxycycline ; Erythromycin ; Genotype ; Gentamicins ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Italy ; Linezolid ; Methods ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Penicillin G ; Post-Exposure Prophylaxis ; Rifampin ; Spores ; Streptomycin ; Tandem Repeat Sequences ; Tetracycline ; Trimethoprim ; Vancomycin

Buffalo mastitis is an important economic problem in southern Italy, causing qualitative/quantitative alterations in milk and resulting in economic losses due to the sub-clinical course and chronic evolution. We investigated 50 udders of slaughtered buffaloes and subjected them to effectual microbiological screening to evaluate macro and microscopic mammary gland changes, immune-characterize the cell infiltrates, and compare the degree of tissue inflammation with somatic cell counts. Numerous Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were isolated from all samples, majority of which were environmental mastitis pathogens. Histological features referable to chronic mastitis were observed in 92% udders. Lymphocytes, plasma cells and macrophages were found to evolve into aggregates in 48% udders, which often organized to form tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs). A predominance of interstitial CD8+ over CD4+ lymphocytes and, in TLSs, scattered CD8+ lymphocytes in the mantle cells and CD79+ lymphocytes in germinal centers, were evidenced. Environmental pathogens are known to persist and cause chronic inflammatory changes in buffaloes, where CD8+ lymphocytes play an important role by controlling the local immune response. Moreover, the TLSs evidenced here for the first time in buffalo mastitis, could play a role in maintaining immune responses against persistent antigens, thereby contributing in determining the chronic course of mastitis.
Animals ; Buffaloes ; Cell Count ; Female ; Germinal Center ; Gram-Negative Bacteria ; Inflammation ; Italy ; Lymphocytes ; Macrophages ; Mammary Glands, Animal ; Mammary Glands, Human ; Mass Screening ; Mastitis ; Milk ; Plasma Cells

Excavation (2008–2014) carried out under the Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy) led to the discovery of 75 individuals, mostly buried in multiple graves. Based on Roman minted coins, the graves were preliminarily dated between the second half of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th centuries CE. Taphonomy showed that this was an emergency burial site associated with a catastrophic event, possibly an epidemic of unknown etiology with high mortality rates. In this perspective, paleoparasitological investigations were performed on 18 individuals exhumed from 9 multiple graves to assess the burden of gastrointestinal parasitism. Five out of eighteen individuals (27.7%) tested positive for ascarid-type remains; these are considered as “decorticated” Ascaris eggs, which have lost their outer mammillated coat. Roundworms (genus Ascaris) commonly infest human populations under dire sanitary conditions. Archaeological and historical evidence indicates that Florentia suffered a period of economic crisis between the end of 4th and the beginning of the 5th centuries CE, and that the aqueduct was severely damaged at the beginning of the 4th century CE, possibly during the siege of the Goths (406 CE). It is more than plausible that the epidemic, possibly coupled with the disruption of the aqueduct, deeply affected the living conditions of these individuals. A 27.7% frequency suggests that ascariasis was widespread in this population. This investigation exemplifies how paleoparasitological information can be retrieved from the analysis of sediments sampled in cemeteries, thus allowing a better assessment of the varying frequency of parasitic infections among ancient populations.
Ascariasis ; Ascaris ; Burial ; Cemeteries ; Eggs ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Italy ; Mentha ; Mortality ; Numismatics ; Ovum ; Social Conditions

Tick-induced mammalian meat allergy has become an emergent allergy world-wide after van Nunen et al. first described the association between tick bites and the development of mammalian meat allergy in 2007. Cases of mammalian meat allergy have now been reported on all 6 continents where humans are bitten by ticks, in 17 countries
Africa ; Americas ; Anaphylaxis ; Asia ; Australia ; Belgium ; Central America ; Europe ; Germany ; Great Britain ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Italy ; Ixodes ; Meat ; Public Health ; South America ; Spain ; Sweden ; Switzerland ; Tick Bites ; Ticks ; United States

The clinical prognostic importance of white coat hypertension (WCH), that is, the clinical condition characterized by an increase of office but a normal ambulatory or home blood pressure (BP) is since a long time matter of considerable debate. WCH accounts for a consistent portion of hypertensive patients (up to 30–40%), particularly when hypertension is mild or age is more advanced. Although scanty and inconsistent information is available on the response of office and out-office BP to antihypertensive treatment and the cardiovascular (CV) protection provided by treatment, an increasing body of evidence focusing on the association of WCH with CV risk factors, subclinical cardiac and extra-cardiac organ damage and, more importantly, with CV events indicates that the risk entailed by this condition is intermediate between true normotension and sustained hypertension. This review will address a number of issues concerning WCH with particular attention to prevalence and clinical correlates, relation with subclinical target organ damage and CV morbidity/mortality, therapeutic perspectives. Several topics covered in this review are based on data acquired over the past 20 years by the Pressioni Arteriose Monitorate E Loro Associazioni (PAMELA) study, a longitudinal survey performed by our group on the general population living in the surroundings of Milan area in the north part of Italy.
Blood Pressure ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Italy ; Longitudinal Studies ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; White Coat Hypertension

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the interest in health and safety in the workplace has increased. Agriculture is one of the human work activities with the highest risk indexes. Studies on risk perception of agricultural workers are often referred to as specific risk factors (especially pesticides), but the risk perception plays an important role in preventing every kind of accident and occupational disease. METHODS: The aim of this research is to test a new method for understanding the relation between risk perception among farmers and the main risk factors to which they are exposed. A secondary aim is to investigate the influence of training in risk perception in agriculture. The data collection was realized using a questionnaire designed to investigate the risk perception; the questionnaire was given to a sample of 119 agricultural workers in central Italy. Through the use of the “principal components analysis” it was possible to highlight and verify the latent dimensions underlying the collected data in comparison with scales of attitudes. RESULTS: Results show that the highest percentage of strong negative attitude is among the people who have worked for more years, while farmers who have worked for fewer years have a marked positive attitude. CONCLUSION: The analysis of the questionnaires through the synthetic index method (Rizzi index) showed that agricultural workers involved, in particular the elderly workers, have a negative attitude towards safety; workers are hostile to safety measures if they have not attended special training courses.
Aged ; Agriculture ; Data Collection ; Farmers* ; Humans ; Italy* ; Methods ; Occupational Diseases ; Passive Cutaneous Anaphylaxis ; Risk Factors ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: Previous studies on adrenal incidentalomas (AIs) are limited by their retrospective design, small numbers of patients, Western populations, or use of an outdated imaging technique. We investigated the characteristics of AIs in Korean patients and compared them with those reported in the largest retrospective study in Italy to discover the effects of improved imaging techniques and ethnicity differences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a prospective, multicenter, cross-sectional observational study including 1005 Korean patients. Levels of plasma adrenocorticotrophic hormone, 24-h urinary free cortisol (UFC), serum cortisol after a 1 mg-dexamethasone suppression test, 24-h urinary fractionated metanephrine, and plasma aldosterone and plasma renin activity were measured. All AIs were characterized using computed tomography (CT). RESULTS: Compared with the results of the Italian study, AIs in Korean patients were observed more frequently in men and predominantly on the left side. Korean patients with AIs were slightly younger, and fewer patients underwent surgery. Most AIs were nonfunctional in both studies, while fewer subclinical hypercortisolism and more primary aldosteronism (PA) cases were detected in Korean patients. In our study, high UFC levels showed very low sensitivity, compared to those in the Italian study. In pheochromocytoma or PA cases, there were no hormonal differences between the studies. AIs in Korean patients were smaller, such that a lower cutoff size for detecting adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) could be warranted. CONCLUSION: Recent advances in CT technology were leveraged to provide accurate characteristics of AIs and to detect smaller ACCs.
Adrenocortical Carcinoma ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Aldosterone ; Cushing Syndrome ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Hyperaldosteronism ; Italy ; Korea* ; Male ; Metanephrine ; Observational Study ; Pheochromocytoma ; Plasma ; Prospective Studies* ; Renin ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to identify the minimum tumor-free margin distance conferring long-term oncological safety in patients diagnosed with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IB/II vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC). METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study in patients with stage IB/II VSCC treated at a single institution in Turin, Italy. The main aim was to identify the minimum tumor-free margin distance that confers oncological safety in early-stage VSCC. Patients were divided in groups according to tumor-free histological margin distance to compare survival outcomes. Overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and recurrence rate (RR) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method for the newly proposed and the currently recommended 8 mm margin cut-off. Log-rank test was used to compare survival between groups. RESULTS: One hundred and fourteen patients met the study criteria. Median age was 68 years and median follow-up was 80 months. The minimum margin distance that conferred long-term oncological safety was 5 mm. OS, DSS were significantly lower in the < 5 mm group when compared with the ≥ 5 mm group (p = 0.002 and p = 0.033, respectively) although no difference in RR was observed between groups. Analysis at the 8-mm cut-off indicated there is no difference in OS, DSS, or RR between groups. CONCLUSION: FIGO stage IB/II VSCC patients' prognosis is affected by margin distance. Long-term survival is significantly reduced in patients with tumor-free margins < 5 mm, even in the absence of lymph node metastasis. Thus, these patients should be offered further surgical or adjuvant treatment.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Cohort Studies ; Epithelial Cells* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Italy ; Lymph Nodes ; Methods ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Obstetrics ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Vulvar Neoplasms