Showing papers by "Vincenza Gianfredi published in 2017"
TL;DR: How often people search the Internet for vaccination-related information is investigated, if this search is spontaneous or induced by media, and which kind of information is in particular searched, to monitor the interest for preventable infections and related vaccines.
Abstract: Nowadays, more and more people surf the Internet seeking health-related information. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can represent an important opportunities in the field of Publi...
62 citations
TL;DR: The results demonstrate the added-value of IIS in a number of areas of vaccination programme monitoring such as monitoring vaccine coverage at local geographical levels, linking individual immunisation history with health outcome data for safety investigations, monitoring vaccine effectiveness and failures and as an educational tool for both vaccine providers and vaccine recipients.
Abstract: Immunisation Information Systems (IIS) are computerised confidential population based-systems containing individual-level information on vaccines received in a given area. They benefit individuals directly by ensuring vaccination according to the schedule and they provide information to vaccine providers and public health authorities responsible for the delivery and monitoring of an immunisation programme. In 2016, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) conducted a survey on the level of implementation and functionalities of IIS in 30 European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries. It explored the governance and financial support for the systems, IIS software, system characteristics in terms of population, identification of immunisation recipients, vaccinations received, and integration with other health record systems, the use of the systems for surveillance and programme management as well as the challenges involved with implementation. The survey was answered by 27 of the 30 EU/EEA countries having either a system in production at national or subnational levels (n = 16), or being piloted (n = 5) or with plans for setting up a system in the future (n = 6). The results demonstrate the added-value of IIS in a number of areas of vaccination programme monitoring such as monitoring vaccine coverage at local geographical levels, linking individual immunisation history with health outcome data for safety investigations, monitoring vaccine effectiveness and failures and as an educational tool for both vaccine providers and vaccine recipients. IIS represent a significant way forward for life-long vaccination programme monitoring.
41 citations
TL;DR: Beneficial effects of dietary bioactive compounds such as SFN and EGCG and their effect on BC cells are suggested by restoring estrogen receptor gene expression, modulating epigenetic changes and events, and interfering with tumor growth rate.
Abstract: Background/Aims: Epigenetics refers to modifications in gene activity and expression without alteration at the DNA sequence. Environment and diet could influence gene expression. Diet modifications may be meaningful in preventing and treating chronic diseases, cancer included. Dietary bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols (e.g., curcumin, resveratrol, or epigallocatechin gallate [EGCG]) or isothiocyanate (e.g., sulforaphane [SFN]), can regulate histone acetylation. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the effect of SFN and EGCG on breast cancer (BC) cells cultured in vitro. Methods: Due to the enormous variability observed in study protocols and the innumerable genes involved, only studies analyzing the number of apoptotic cells in the MDA-MB-231 cell line were evaluated. The effect size (ES) was computed as the ratio of means. Results: We identified 7 studies, 4 regarding the effect of 10 µ M SFN on MDA-MB-231 cells (ES = 4.59, 95% confidence interval 4.05-5.20) and 3 focusing on the impact of 20 µ M EGCG (ES = 2.84, 95% confidence interval 2.60-3.10). Conclusion: The findings suggest beneficial effects of dietary bioactive compounds such as SFN and EGCG and their effect on BC cells by restoring estrogen receptor gene expression, modulating epigenetic changes and events, and interfering with tumor growth rate. Publication bias limits the generalizability of the conclusions. High-quality studies are needed.
35 citations
TL;DR: A family-based multidisciplinary approach is effective in the short term in ameliorating the health status, the nutrition habits, and physical performance in children and adolescents.
Abstract: Objective. The purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of a multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention to treat overweight/obese children and adolescents. The main outcome was cardiometabolic risk based on the waist-to-height ratio (WHTR) measurement. Secondary outcomes were () changes in body composition; () adherence to a Mediterranean diet; and () physical performance. Method. The study involved 74 overweight/obese children or adolescents. The intervention was multidisciplinary including nutrition, exercise, and psychological aspects based on a family-based approach; it was delivered for six months for children and three months for adolescents. Before and after the intervention, several anthropometric measures (height, body weight, body mass index or BMI, waist circumference, and body composition), cardiometabolic risk index (waist-to-height ratio or WHTR), and nutrition habits of the participants and their families were evaluated. In addition, a set of functional motor fitness tests was performed to evaluate physical performance measures. Results. After the intervention both children and adolescents showed a significant reduction in body weight, BMI, waist circumference, fat mass, and WHTR index and an improvement of fat-free mass, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, and physical fitness performance. Conclusion. A family-based multidisciplinary approach is effective in the short term in ameliorating the health status, the nutrition habits, and physical performance in children and adolescents.
34 citations
TL;DR: Information is reviewed on the effects of bioactive dietary compounds present in food on human breast cancer cell lines, and the mechanisms underlying those effects are explored with a view to their potential therapeutic application.
Abstract: Much of the recent research in neoplasia has been focusing on the epigenetics of cancer cells, particularly as regards the search for potential molecular biomarkers that could be used for early diagnosis, effective treatment, and prognosis of several types of cancer. Carcinogenesis often starts with mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, and it leads to anomalies in cellular processes as vital as cell cycle regulation and apoptosis. Because malignant changes arise as a result of genetic as well as epigenetic mechanisms, one possible means of intervention involves reprogramming gene expression, so as to-at least in part-revert the molecular alterations. DNA methylation and demethylation, acetylation and deacetylation of histones, and microRNAs are a few examples of the epigenetic mechanisms responsible for tumor development and progression. Many biologically active compounds present in food-including sulforaphane, curcumin, and epigallocatechin-have been found to modulate those processes. We here systematically review information on the effects of such bioactive dietary compounds on human breast cancer cell lines, and explore the mechanisms underlying those effects with a view to their potential therapeutic application.
27 citations
TL;DR: The result suggests a protective effect of the ions on CVD prevention, with an effect-size of 0.82, and hard water consumption seems to be protective against CVD.
Abstract: This systematic review with meta-analysis, performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, aims at evaluating the potential correlation between magnesium and calcium concentration in drinking waters and the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), which impose a considerable burden in high-income countries. Included studies were of the case-control studies type. From an initial list of 643 potentially eligible articles, seven studies were finally retained in the quantitative analysis. Since each one of them assessed different ion concentrations, subjects exposed to the highest concentration versus those exposed to the lowest concentration were compared. By including an overall figure of 44,000 subjects, the result suggests a protective effect of the ions on CVD prevention, with an effect-size (ES) of 0.82 (95% confidence interval CI = [0.70–0.95], p -value = 0.008) for calcium, and ES = 0.75 (95% CI = [0.66–0.86], p -value = 0.000) for magnesium. Hard water consumption seems to be protective against CVD. However, the high heterogeneity (I 2 = 75.24, p -value = 0.001 for calcium; I 2 = 72.96, p -value = 0.0024 for magnesium) and the existence of publication bias limits the robustness and generalizability of these findings. Further high-quality studies are needed to reproduce and confirm these results.
27 citations
TL;DR: The survey shows a good pharmacist sensitivity to the issues of health education, and the pharmacist can and should play an essential role in responsibly involving all citizens in promoting new health behaviours in collaboration with physicians.
Abstract: Introduction Nowadays, the community pharmacist's role is undergoing profound transformations. As a healthcare provider of the National Health Service, pharmacists are expanding their expertise in Public Health through disease prevention and health promotion programme. In relation to health education and health promotion interventions, this research was aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of a selected sample of private and public pharmacists, working in the Province of Perugia and Terni, Umbria region. Methods Cross-sectional study conducted using two detection tools: a 29-items self-administered, anonymous questionnaire and a 21-items environmental evaluation sheet, compiled by students of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Results 70% of umbrian pharmacists participated in the project, 68.9% of them consider health education interventions "very important", 57% support the gratuity of these interventions with a 14.5 hours/week dedicated to these activities. Conclusions The survey shows a good pharmacist sensitivity to the issues of health education. Actually, the pharmacist can and should play an essential role in responsibly involving all citizens in promoting new health behaviours in collaboration with physicians.
13 citations
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: This chapter explores the US Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of medical foods, a growing industry that lies between pharmaceutical drugs and food, including the applicable Current Good Manufacturing Practices and import/export requirements.
Abstract: Our chapter explores the US Food and Drug Administration’s (USFDA’s) regulation of medical foods, a growing industry that lies between pharmaceutical drugs and food. In addition to an overall discussion of the short regulatory history of medical foods, we cover the agency’s recently released revised draft guidance and other regulatory requirements for medical foods, including the applicable Current Good Manufacturing Practices and import/export requirements, as well as FDA’s enforcement actions to date.
9 citations
TL;DR: According to the prognostic value of CA, the studied population appears to be much more at risk to develop cancer than unexposed nurses, which clearly indicates the necessity to improve some steps in the administration process and nurses' awareness of genotoxic risk.
Abstract: There is growing concern about possible genotoxic hazards for healthcare personnel handling cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs (CCD) due to increased use in the treatment of not only neoplastic diseases. It is therefore necessary to monitor health care workers and prevent exposure. We performed a structured computer search on Pubmed/Medline for molecular epidemiological studies reporting results referring to chromosome aberration (CA) in nurses exposed to CCD. Selected studies reported average group data relative to frequency of structural/numerical CA and the corresponding measures of dispersion. We calculated the ratio of mean as a measure of effect. We conducted a meta-analytic review of 26 studies. In most of the cases, studies showed a high frequency of CA in the exposed personnel compared to non-exposed subjects. Our study shows a statistically significant increase of CA in exposed personnel RoM=2,01 (IC95%=1,68-2,42). According to the prognostic value of CA, the studied population appears to be much more at risk to develop cancer than unexposed nurses. This finding clearly indicates the necessity to improve some steps in the administration process and nurses' awareness of genotoxic risk.
7 citations
01 Apr 2017
4 citations
TL;DR: A questionnaire administered to the general population seems to be an appropriate and useful tool to detect cognitive gaps concerning behaviours responsible for possible transmissions of the disease, even in a non-endemic country such as Italy.
Abstract: Background Zika (ZIKV), a flavivirus firstly identified in rhesus monkeys in Zika Forest of Uganda, in 1947, is an emerging virus transmitted mainly by mosquitoes bites. Due to ZIKV adaptation to humans, that can maintain a mosquito-human-mosquito transmission cycle, it is essential to know the attitudes, knowledge and behaviours of general population regarding ZIKV prevention. Our main study aims were to develop and validate a questionnaire administered to the general population, in order to assess attitudes, knowledge and behaviours around prevention and control of Zika infection. Methods A questionnaire was developed based on a comprehensive review of the extant literature, pre-existing questionnaires and experts focus groups. Results The final, validation version of the questionnaire comprised 8 items, with good psychometric properties (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.81). Overall test/re-test concordance was 0.86, ranging from 0.76 to 0.94 according to each item. Conclusion In conclusion, the questionnaire seems to be an appropriate and useful tool to detect cognitive gaps concerning behaviours responsible for possible transmissions of the disease, even in a non-endemic country such as Italy. Future analysis will explore the factorial structure of the questionnaire as well as knowledge, beliefs and attitudes concerning ZIKV among Italian general population.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Un alto numero di eventi avversi riportati, dovuto principalmente alla metodica di rilevazione (sorveglianza attiva), sono stati nella quasi totalita dei casi eventi di lieve o moderata intensita in linea with quanto riscontrato in precedenti trials.
Abstract: ObiettiviLo studio prende avvio dal progetto “Sorveglianza attiva degli eventi avversi dopo vaccinazione anti-HPV” condotto al fine di registrare attivamente tutti gli eventi avversi comuni insorti nelle ragazze 9-26 anni sottoposte a vaccinazione anti-HPV.
MetodoE stato condotto uno studio multicentrico di coorte che ha visto la partecipazione di 12 Regioni e 87 Asl, coordinate dal Centro Nazionale di Epidemiologia, Sorveglianza e Promozione della Salute (CNESPS) dell’ISS. Sono state incluse nello studio tutte le adolescenti di 12 anni di eta chiamate attivamente alla vaccinazione anti-HPV, oltre a tutte le donne di eta 9-26 anni che hanno effettuato, nel periodo in esame, la medesima vaccinazione presso l’Asl di Spoleto.
RisultatiDelle 147 ragazze partecipanti al programma, solo 102 hanno riportato il diario compilato a seguito della prima dose vaccinale, 62 quello relativo alla seconda dose ed 88 il diario della terza dose. Dai diari delle vaccinate compilati dopo la prima dose si evince che gli eventi avversi, quando presenti, si sono manifestati quasi esclusivamente durante i primi 5 giorni dalla vaccinazione, con una forte prevalenza di reazioni locali (eritema, dolore e gonfiore nel sito di iniezione) seguito da cefalea e dolori muscolari.
ConclusioniI risultati mostrano un alto numero di eventi avversi riportati, dovuto principalmente alla metodica di rilevazione (sorveglianza attiva), tuttavia gli eventi registrati sono stati nella quasi totalita dei casi eventi di lieve o moderata intensita in linea con quanto riscontrato in precedenti trials