Improvement of insulin sensitivity in diabetic and non diabetic patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with direct antiviral agents

The increased incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus among hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients is likely due to viral-induced insulin resistance (IR). Indeed, control of diabetes in these patients benefits of successful antiviral treatment; whether the same applies to subtler alterations of glucose metabolism is unknown. We aimed to fill this gap

Lessons learned from a participatory design project in e-health

Information and Communication Technology has made great improvement and development in the health domain influencing the organization of healthcare and the e-health information systems. This paper aims to show the experience of health information system re-engineering in the Marche Region. In particular, issues related the health regional registry design has been faced. The health registry is a suitable way to uniquely identify the assisted living in the region. It stands as a qualified source of citizens’ data for the local register offices that can be found in the various health departments and in the hospitals of the region. It also provides the basis structure for the electronic health records under study in the Region. Starting from Europe and national guidelines, health registry characteristics and functionalities have been analysed. The result of this work is a detailed design of the system ready for the implementation phase. During the work we followed a participatory design approach and we considered the most suitable software development methodology such as Rational Unified Process

Thematic Review on Women's Perception of Safety While Walking in Public Space: The STEP UP Project

<p>The contributions of this paper are the result of a thematic review conducted on some of the most relevant scientific contributions and policy guidelines about women's perception of safety while walking in public spaces. The first part of the review focused on 23 scientific references revolving around the keywords "gender", "safety" and "walkability". This led to the establishment of three main Safety Factors: (<i>i</i>) Spatial Features (space characteristics/morphological features); (<i>ii</i>) City Use (traces of behavior and presence of city users); and (<i>iii</i>) Hotspots (safe havens and no-go areas); further resulting in 19 sub-factors. The second part of the review covered a collection of 20 reports and 10 guidelines focused on diverse geographical scales, areas of interest and target audiences, as well as data collection methods. This involved the selection of multiple case studies, which are also presented, thus maintaining a geographically diverse sample. As part of the scientific research project "STEP UP—Walkability forWomen in Milan", the outputs of the proposed thematic review will be exploited to help identify challenging areas of Milan (Italy), as samples of analysis to develop a set of policy recommendations to enhance the level of walkability for women.</p&gt