Knowledge and training of Italian students in Healthcare Settings on COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination strategies, one year after the immunization campaign

Abstract Introduction: COVID-19 vaccines represent an important opportunity for defeating the disease, as long as high vaccination acceptance rates are achieved. Healthcare workers (HCWs) have a relevant role in the promotion of immunization. The aim of the study is to assess the knowledge of medical and pharmaceutical area students regarding COVID-19 vaccination and the impact of a specific Elective Teaching Activity (ETA), one year after the immunization campaign in Italy. Methods: Students’ knowledge was tested with a questionnaire before and after attending the course. Descriptive statistical methods were used to analyse the results obtained. Student’s t-tests for paired data were used. Results: Overall, 387 students at the University of Florence attended the course and took the same test before and after the ETA on COVID-19 vaccines. Despite achieving satisfactory average scores in the pre-course test (26/32±4.0), all students were able to significantly enhance their final score (+17.1%; p<0.001), indicating that the ETA was highly effective in improving their knowledge of COVID-19 vaccination. Medical students demonstrated a better comprehension of the role of the medical specialist in public health in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, while some uncertainties were revealed regarding the role of pharmacists.  Conclusions: The results of this study confirm that specific training activities on vaccination are effective for implementing the knowledge of future health professionals

Older People Living in Nursing Homes: An Oral Health Screening Survey in Florence, Italy

The oral health state plays an important role in the concept of ‘elderly frailty’, since institutionalized older people are prone to suffering from bad oral conditions. The aim of this study is to assess the state of oral health in the older residents of nursing homes and to measure its potential association with the cognitive state, the degree of functional autonomy, and the malnutrition risk. Methods: We enrolled 176 subjects from 292 residents in five nursing homes in Florence. For each subject, we performed the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool, the Pfeiffer test, the Minimum Data Set—Long Form, a dental examination, and the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index questionnaire. The results show that the oral condition was poor in 43.8% of cases, medium in 38.1%, and good in 18.2%. A worse oral health state was significantly associated (p < 0.05) with a worse cognitive state and with a higher dependency in daily living activities. The malnutrition score among the older people was unrelated to the oral health condition (p = 0.128). It can be concluded that the oral health condition in older institutionalized subjects is an open challenge for the public healthcare system, since the maintenance of adequate good oral health is an essential element of good physical as well as cognitive and psychological health

SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence Survey in People Involved in Different Essential Activities during the General Lock-Down Phase in the Province of Prato (Tuscany, Italy)

Serosurveys may help to assess the transmission dynamics in high-risk groups. The aim of the study was to assess the SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence in people who had performed essential activities during the lock-down period in the Province of Prato (Italy), and to evaluate the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 according to the type of service. All the workers and volunteers of the Civil Protection, employees of the municipalities, and all the staff of the Health Authority of the Province of Prato were invited to be tested with a rapid serological test. A total of 4656 participants were tested. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were found in 138 (2.96%) cases. The seroprevalence in health care workers, in participants involved in essential support services and in those who worked from home were 4.1%, 1.4% and 1.0%, respectively. Health care workers experienced higher odds of seropositivity (OR 4.38, 95%CI 2.19–10.41) than participants who were assigned to work-from-home; no significant seropositivity differences were observed between support services and work-from-home groups. A low circulation of SARS-CoV-2 was observed among participants performing different essential activities. Findings highlighted the risk of in-hospital transmission in healthcare workers and that community support services may increase the risk of seropositivity to a limited extent in low incidence areas

Evaluation of Occupational Exposure to Perchlorethylene in a Group of Italian Dry Cleaners Using Noninvasive Exposure Indices

Recent data suggest a general trend in decreased occupational exposure to perchlorethylene (PCE) in the dry-cleaning sector. The aims of this study were to confirm this trend to lower exposure levels in a group of Italian dry cleaners and to evaluate the current occupational PCE exposure in these works using noninvasive biological indices. Environmental exposure was assessed by personal sampling in 60 operators working in 21 dry cleaning shops in North Italy. PCE in the exhaled alveolar air (PCEalv), urinary concentration of PCE and of trichloroacetic acid (TCA) (PCEu and TCAu respectively), were measured as biological exposure indices. Median PCE environmental concentration in the whole sample was 10.6 mg/m3 (i.e., less than the 25% of the levels measured in the same area in a previous study). All values were less than 10% of the occupational limits. PCEu measured in samples collected at the end of the work shift resulted the biological markers having the strongest correlation with environmental PCE (r = 0.81). PCEalv also resulted in a high correlation (r = 0.66), while a lower correlation was found for TCAu measured at the end shift (r = 0.32). According to our results, PCEu can be proposed as a valid, noninvasive, and easily reliable exposure index to evaluate PCE exposure at the low levels currently observed in dry cleaners, therefore representing a promising alternative to invasive blood sample collections needed to determine PCE blood concentration

Physical activity in liver transplant recipients: a large multicenter study

Aim Healthy lifestyle and appropriate diet are of critical importance after liver transplant (LT). We provided an analysis of the main patterns of physical activity and found factors associated with physical activity itself.Methods Clinically stable LT recipients were enrolled between June and September 2021. Patients completed a composite questionnaire about physical activity, adherence to Mediterranean Diet (MD), quality of life (QoL), and employment. Correlations were analysed using the Pearson coefficients while different subgroups were compared by t-test for independent samples or ANOVAs. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to find predictors of inactivity.Results We enrolled 511 subjects (71% males, mean age 63 +/- 10.8 years). One hundred and ninety-three patients reported high level of physical activity, 197 a minimal activity and 121 declared insufficient activity. Among these latter, 29 subjects were totally inactive. Considering the 482 LT recipients performing some kind of physical activity, almost all reported a low-quality, non-structured activity. At multivariate analysis, time from LT (odds ratio 0.94, 95% CI 0.89-0.99, p = 0.017), sedentary lifestyle (odds ratio 0.99, 95% CI 0.19-0.81, p = 0.012), low adherence to MD (odds ratio 1.22, 95% CI 1.01-1.48, p = 0.049), and low level of QoL (physical dimension) (odds ratio 1.13, 95% CI 1.08-1.17, p < 0.001), were independently associated with total inactivity.Conclusion A large portion of LT recipients report an insufficient level of physical activity or are wholly inactive. Inactivity increases with time from LT and was strongly associated with suboptimal diet and low QoL

related distortions and problem gambling in adolescents: a model to explain mechanisms and develop interventions

Although a number of gambling preventive initiatives have been realized with adolescents, many of them have been developed in absence of a clear and explicitly described theoretical model. The present work was aimed to analyze the adequacy of a model to explain gambling behavior referring to gambling-related cognitive distortions (Study 1), and to verify the effectiveness of a preventive intervention developed on the basis of this model (Study 2). Following dual-process theories on cognitive functioning, in Study 1 we tested a model in which mindware gap, i.e., susceptibility to the gambler's fallacy, and contaminated mindware, i.e., superstitious thinking, were the antecedents of gambling-related cognitive distortions that, in turn, affect gambling frequency and problem gambling. Participants were 306 male adolescents (M-age = 17.2 years). A path analysis indicated that cognitive distortions have a mediating role in the relationship that links probabilistic reasoning fallacy and superstitious thinking with problem gambling. Following these findings, in Study 2 we developed a school-based intervention aimed to reduce gambling-related cognitive distortions acting on the above cited mindware problems. A pre- and post-test design - with a 6 months follow-up - was performed with 34 male adolescents (M-age = 16.8), randomly assigned to two groups (Training and No Training), and their baseline equivalence was verified. A Mixed 2 x 2 ANOVA attested a significant Time X Group interaction, indicating a significant reduction of the cognitive distortions from pre-test to post-test only in the Training group. The follow-up attested to the stability of the training effects and the reduction of gambling frequency over time. These findings suggest that prevention strategies should address mindware problems, which can be considered as predictors of gambling-related cognitive distortions

Measuring university students’ approaches to learning statistics : a cross-cultural and multilingual version of the ASSIST

University students often encounter difficulties in statistics courses that hinder their progress in the attainment of their degree. In identifying variables that may constitute barriers faced by students, it is important to investigate the approach that students adopt in learning statistics. Focusing on issue of measurement, the present paper aimed to develop a brief version of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST), one of the well-known measures of a student's approach to learning. The final goal was to obtain a cross-cultural and multilingual version of the ASSIST to investigate learning approaches in multinational research. Results indicated that the abbreviated Spanish, Italian and English versions of the ASSIST showed good psychometric properties and the three-factor structure of the original version (Deep, Surface and Strategic approaches) was confirmed.6 page(s

Measuring university students' approaches to learning statistics : an invariance study

The aim of the current study was to provide evidence that an abbreviated version of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) was invariant across different languages and educational contexts in measuring university students' learning approaches to statistics. Data were collected on samples of university students attending undergraduate introductory statistics courses in five countries (Argentina, Italy, Australia, Turkey, and Vietnam). Using factor analysis, we confirmed the three-factor (Deep, Surface, and Strategic approach) model holds across the five samples, and we provided evidence of configural and measurement invariance. The current version of the ASSIST for statistics learners is a suitable scale for researchers and teachers working in the field of statistics education and represents promising tool for multinational studies on approaches to learning statistics.13 page(s