Socio-demographic aspects and therapeutic pathways in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Italy

The research carried out by Censis Foundation, in collaboration with SIR (Italian Society of Rheumatology) and ANMAR (National Association of Rheumatic patients), with the sponsorship of Roche S.p.A., involved more than 600 patients, diagnosed with arthritis by a rheumatologist according to ACR criteria. The patients were recruited through a representative sample of 300 general practitioners. A number of different research and survey tools were used to collect data, helping to identify several of the problems that affect Italian patients: a survey form to be filled by the GPs, in order to verify the diagnosis and the comorbidity level; a questionnaire for the self-assessment of the disease activity, Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Index (RADAI), and a sociological questionnaire set up for the analysis of the main aspects of the patients' path. Among the most serious criticalities found, the difficulties and the time needed for the patients to get a clear AR diagnosis, the problems in interacting with health structures, and the differences in accessing pharmaceutical therapies (only a slight majority of patients use DMARDs drugs, a small amount takes biological drugs, while a large number of patients is treated exclusively with symptomatic drugs) stand out. The differences in patients' condition appear then to be exaggerated, regarding the chances to get an early diagnosis, the access path to specialised centres, and in receiving the most appropriate treatments. Moreover, these differences appear to be strongly dependent on both the social characteristics of the patients and the supply arrangement in their area

Health-related quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: assessment by a Italian version of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales, Version 2 (AIMS2)

The research carried out by Censis Foundation, in collaboration with SIR (Italian Society of Rheumatology) and ANMAR (National association of rheumatic patients) involved 646 patients, diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by a rheumatologist according to ACR criteria. The patients were recruited through a representative sample of 300 general practitioners (GP). A cross-sectional survey was conducted to study the current status of health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients using a revised Italian version of a revised version of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales 2 (AIMS2). The AIMS2 was administered to the 646 patients with (RA) attending arthritis clinics at various hospitals across the country. Self-report functional disability scores were calculated for all 12 specific scales, summary components, and overall impact measures. The AIMS2 has been validated for the Italian language. Ranging from 0 (perfect health) to 10 (poor health), the mean scores of the AIMS2 showed an important impact of the disease on the 4 components of the health status of these patients: walking and bending, mean score = 5.1; nervous tension = 5.0, arthritis pain = 5.0, and social activity = 4.6. Among other dimensions, the impact of RA was moderate for mood, work, hand and finger function and mobility (mean score: 3.7, 3.7, 3.5 and 3.4, respectively) and low for household tasks, arm function, self-care tasks and family support (3.0, 2.9, 2.5 and 2.1, respectively). There was a tendency for the scores of younger patients to be better than those of olders patients. In conclusion, RA have a clearly detrimental effect on the HRQL in both physical and mental components. Prevention and management of physical disability should be seriously planned in consideration of the changes in these conditions in RA patients. Use of the AIMS2 makes it easier and less costly to collect data and reduces the burden on RA patients

Socio-demographic aspects and therapeutic pathways in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Italy

The research carried out by Censis Foundation, in collaboration with SIR (Italian Society of Rheumatology) and ANMAR (National Association of Rheumatic patients), with the sponsorship of Roche S.p.A., involved more than 600 patients, diagnosed with arthritis by a rheumatologist according to ACR criteria. The patients were recruited through a representative sample of 300 general practitioners. A number of different research and survey tools were used to collect data, helping to identify several of the problems that affect Italian patients: a survey form to be filled by the GPs, in order to verify the diagnosis and the comorbidity level; a questionnaire for the self-assessment of the disease activity, Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Index (RADAI), and a sociological questionnaire set up for the analysis of the main aspects of the patients’ path. Among the most serious criticalities found, the difficulties and the time needed for the patients to get a clear AR diagnosis, the problems in interacting with health structures, and the differences in accessing pharmaceutical therapies (only a slight majority of patients use DMARDs drugs, a small amount takes biological drugs, while a large number of patients is treated exclusively with symptomatic drugs) stand out. The differences in patients’ condition appear then to be exaggerated, regarding the chances to get an early diagnosis, the access path to specialised centres, and in receiving the most appropriate treatments. Moreover, these differences appear to be strongly dependent on both the social characteristics of the patients and the supply arrangement in their area

Improvements in fatigue strength assessment of marine propellers

The importance of considering fatigue phenomena in propeller design is analysed by proposing a reviewed procedure for propeller blade fatigue assessment, already presented in a previous work. According to the results of fatigue tests collected from open literature and to fatigue design methodologies for propellers operating in ice, new corrections and coefficients are defined and introduced in the fatigue assessment. The reviewed procedure is applied to two different test cases. The analysis of the results underlines the importance of a more detailed and direct approach to propeller structural design which, at least in particular cases, could lead to benefits in the propeller performances

Correction to: Nutrition behaviour and compliance with the Mediterranean diet pyramid recommendations: an Italian survey‑based study

The article \u201cNutrition behaviour and compliance with the Mediterranean diet pyramid recommendations: an Italian survey\u2011based study\u201d, written by \u201cRenata Bracale, Concetta M. Vaccaro, Vittoria Coletta, Claudio Cricelli, Francesco Carlo Gamaleri, Fabio Parazzini and Michele Carruba\u201d was originally published electronically on the publisher\u2019s internet portal on 8th November 2019 without open access. With the author(s)\u2019 decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed on 23rd December 2019 to \ua9 The Author(s) 2019 and the article is forthwith distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https ://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The original article has been corrected

Clinical phenotype and beta-cell autoimmunity in Italian patients with adult-onset diabetes.

Objective: To characterize the phenotype of a large population of Italian patients with adult onset (2:40 years) diabetes who were attending outpatient clinics and who were screened for glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 autoantibodies (GADA), protein tyrosine phosphatase IA-2 (IA-2A) and IA-2 beta/phogrin (IA-2 beta A). Design and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study comprising a total of 881 patients, aged :S 70 years. diagnosed with type 2 diabetes after the age of 40 years. and consecutively recruited in five clinics located in different geographic areas of Italy (Milan, Florence, Rome, Naples and Catania). Their mean disease duration was 8.1 (6.9: S.D.) years. GADA. IA-2A and IA-2 beta A were measured with radiobinding assays with in vitro translated S-methionine-labelled glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65) or IA-2 or IA-2 beta. Anthropometric and clinical data were collected and compared amongst patients with or Without autoantibodies. Results: Sixty-three (7.1%) patients had one or more autoantibodies, 58 (6.6%) had GADA, 22 (2.5%) had IA-2A, six (0.7%) had IA-2 beta A and 19 (2.15%) had two or more autoantibodies. IA-2A or IA-2 beta A. in the absence of GADA. were found in only five patients. Autoantibody-positive patients were more often female (63.5 vs 36.5%; P 10 units vs 42.0% in those with <= 10 units: P < 0.007). Conclusions: Patients with adult onset diabetes characterized by autoimmunity to beta-cells showed a clinical phenotype with anthropometric features that differed from those classically observed in patients with type 2 diabetes. The number and titre of autoantibodies, which reflect the severity of autoimmunity and beta-cell impairment, amplified this difference. The usefulness of autoantibody screening in adult-onset diabetes is further emphasized by these findings