SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in the Vatican city state

The results of this seroprevalence analysis showed a positivity rate among individuals assisted by the internal healthcare system of the Vatican City State lower than that found in other studies on similar samples. This may be due to the small sample size and to the low number of COVID-19 cases tracked in the Vatican City State thanks to the control and prevention measures taken by the Directorate of Health and Hygiene. These measures were applied uninterruptedly through the first and second waves and included preventive measures such as hand disinfection, social distancing, use of face masks, body temperature measurement and symptom screening, as well as clinical surveillance, isolation protocols for symptomatic individuals and careful evaluation of all potential contacts

Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on mental health and sleep disturbances in Italy

Italy was the first European country that entered a nationwide lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since quarantine can impact on mental health, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and sleeping disturbances in the Italian population during lockdown. The factors that might influence such outcomes were explored. A national cross-sectional survey was performed during the last 14 days of the Italian lockdown. Questionnaires assessed socio-demographics characteristic, behaviors and healthcare access. The outcomes were assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire-2 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2. Participants with sleep disturbances completed the Insomnia Severity Index. The sample size was 1515. Depression and anxiety symptom prevalence was 24.7% and 23.2%; 42.2% had sleep disturbances and, among them, 17.4% reported moderate/severe insomnia. Being female, an increased time spent on the internet and an avoidance of activities through peer pressure increased the likelihood of at least one mental health outcome. Increasing age, an absence of work-related troubles and being married or being a cohabitant reduced such a probability. Females and participants with chronic conditions were associated with a higher prevalence of sleep disturbances. It is crucial to study effective interventions, specifically planning strategies, for more vulnerable groups and to consider the role of the internet

Orthorexia nervosa: A cross-sectional study among athletes competing in endurance sports in Northern Italy

Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) is an eating disorder marked by an excessive control over the quality of the food eaten. Some groups present a higher prevalence of ON and people practicing sports seems to be a population at risk. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of ON in endurance athletes and to compare their prevalence with the ones recorded in the sedentary population and in athletes playing other sports. A cross-sectional survey was carried in Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta, among 549 participants in local sports events aged between 18 and 40 years old. The questionnaire assessed socio-demographic characteristics, physical activity, nutrition and diet, the ORTO-15 questionnaire and Eating Habits Questionnaire (EHQ). The sample was stratified according to the minutes of sport practiced in a week and the type of sport played. Crosstab chi-square analyses to determine group differences on categorical variables (e.g. gender), and ANOVAs or t tests to determine group differences on continuous variables were performed. When required, post hoc analyses were performed. Linear and logistic regressions were performed in order to investigate potential predictors of orthorexia. The EHQ mean scores ware significantly higher in people who practice sports >150 minutes/week. EHQ score resulted to be positively correlated with endurance sport practice >150 minutes/week, with a coefficient of 2.407 (I.C.95% [0.27;4.54], p = 0.027). Analyses carried out suggested a correlation between endurance sport practice and ON. Further studies should be performed to identify diagnostic criteria and to compare different questionnaire used to assess them

Light Commercial Vehicle ADAS-Oriented Modelling: An Optimization-Based Conversion Tool from Multibody to Real-Time Vehicle Dynamics Model

In the last few years, the number of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) on road vehicles has been increased with the aim of dramatically reducing road accidents. Therefore, the OEMs need to integrate and test these systems, to comply with the safety regulations. To lower the development cost, instead of experimental testing, many virtual simulation scenarios need to be tested for ADAS validation. The classic multibody vehicle approach, normally used to design and optimize vehicle dynamics performance, is not always suitable to cope with these new tasks; therefore, real-time lumped-parameter vehicle models implementation becomes more and more necessary. This paper aims at providing a methodology to convert experimentally validated light commercial vehicles (LCV) multibody models (MBM) into real-time lumped-parameter models (RTM). The proposed methodology involves the definition of the vehicle subsystems and the level of complexity required to achieve a good match between the simulation results obtained from the two models. Thus, an automatic vehicle model converter will be presented together with the assessment of its accuracy. An optimization phase is included into the conversion tool, to fine-tune uncertain vehicle parameters and to compensate for inherent modelling differences. The objective function of the optimization is based on typical performance indices used for vehicle longitudinal and lateral dynamics assessment. Finally, the simulation results from the original and converted models are compared during steady-state and transient tests, to prove the conversion fidelity