COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among Italian Healthcare Workers: Latent Profiles and Their Relationships to Predictors and Outcome

Vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy beliefs among healthcare workers (HCWs) represent operational priorities that require urgent attention. Identifying and classifying specific subpopulation of hesitancy is crucial to customize educational and intervention strategies to enhance the acceptance and uptake rate of vaccination. Thus, the main purpose of our study was to empirically identify latent profiles of vaccine hesitancy among Italian HCWs adopting a person-centered approach and investigating their relationships with antecedents and intention to get a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine. We conducted latent profile analyses (LPA) to identify different configurations of vaccine hesitancy based on five antecedents of vaccination: confidence, complacency, constraints, calculation, and collective responsibility among a sample of Italian HCWs (n = 573). LPA revealed four distinct profiles: believer (61.5%), middler (24.7%), hesitant (9.00%), and rejecter (4.7%). Having conspiracy beliefs was associated with a greater likelihood of membership in all but believer. Finally, the likelihood of intention to get a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine was lowest in the rejector and hesitant profiles. Theoretical contributions and implications for practice are discussed

Adherence issues related to sublingual immunotherapy as perceived by allergists

Objectives: Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is a viable alternative to subcutaneous immunotherapy to treat allergic rhinitis and asthma, and is widely used in clinical practice in many European countries. The clinical efficacy of SLIT has been established in a number of clinical trials and meta-analyses. However, because SLIT is self-administered by patients without medical supervision, the degree of patient adherence with treatment is still a concern. The objective of this study was to evaluate the perception by allergists of issues related to SLIT adherence. Methods: We performed a questionnaire-based survey of 296 Italian allergists, based on the adherence issues known from previous studies. The perception of importance of each item was assessed by a VAS scale ranging from 0 to 10. Results: Patient perception of clinical efficacy was considered the most important factor (ranked 1 by 54% of allergists), followed by the possibility of reimbursement (ranked 1 by 34%), and by the absence of side effects (ranked 1 by 21%). Patient education, regular follow-up, and ease of use of SLIT were ranked first by less than 20% of allergists. Conclusion: These findings indicate that clinical efficacy, cost, and side effects are perceived as the major issues influencing patient adherence to SLIT, and that further improvement of adherence is likely to be achieved by improving the patient information provided by prescribers. © 2010 Scurati et al, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd

Calcinosis as the presenting sign of juvenile dermatomyositis in a 14-month-old boy.

We describe a 14-month-old child with dermatomyositis in whom calcinosis was the first sign of the disease. This case shows that calcinosis, usually a late complication of dermatomyositis, may be the presenting sign of the disease even in young children and when Gottron's sign is still absent and muscular weakness not prominent

Utilizzo del telerilevamento per l\u2019analisi della biodiversit\ue0 strutturale: il caso studio della Riserva Forestale di Cl\uf6ise (Asiago, VI)

The Forest Reserve called \u201cCl\uf6ise\u201d is located on the Asiago Plateau (VI). It has an extension of about 17 ha, occupied by a mixed forest with Spruce (Picea abies) Fir (Abies alba) and Beech (Fagus sylvatica) and without cutting activities since 60 years. In 2009 a permanent monitoring area of 1 hectare was established within the reserve with the aim of analyzing the structure and the forest dynamics without significant human disturbance. In July 2012 the entire forest reserve was covered by a LiDAR survey within the Alpine Project NEWFOR (NEW technologies for a better mountain forest timber mobilization). In the present work the preliminary results of the use of LiDAR technology for the analysis of structural biodiversity of the forest are presented. The data obtained from field measurements (position, height, species, canopy, projection) have been used to validate the same information extracted from the CHM. The field surveys show a good level of structural biodiversity even if the influence of past silvicultural treatments is still evident. The validation of the data extracted from LiDAR with the ground truth showed a good correspondence for what concerns the extraction of information regarding the dominant trees while problems have been encountered for the analysis of the undergrowt

RECOGNITION OF LIVE HUMAN FACES BY PET DOGS

Several studies have focused on how dogs use visual information about human faces, but their ability to recognize the faces of familiar people is not yet understood. We tested 30 dogs on their ability to recognize their owners by using face information alone. In a series of two-choice tasks, dogs had to choose between their owner and a stranger, who wore identical clothes and stood behind an apparatus that allowed dogs to only see the people\u2019s legs and heads. In the TEST condition heads were not frontally oriented towards the dog and were illuminated by a spotlight, while a shower cap covered the people\u2019s hair. In the BASE condition, heads faced the dog, there was no spotlight and no cap. In the ODOR condition, only legs were visible. A choice was recorded when the dog overstepped the apparatus where one of the two people stood. Only in BASE condition the dogs choose the owner above chance (N = 22, P = 0.008, one-tailed Binomial). Condition had a significant effect on choices (Q = 6.7, P = 0.03), as dogs chose the owner more often in BASE than TEST (N = 14, Q = 5.3, P 0.02) and ODOR (N = 15, Q = 5.4, P 0.02), whereas no difference was found between the latter two (Q = 0.07, P = 0.7). Results suggest that dogs cannot recognize their owner\u2019s face under certain viewing conditions, raising questions about which perceptual information is most relevant for human face recognition by dogs

Applicability of extracellular electrical impedance tomography in monitoring respiratory tract inflammation.

BACKGROUND: The presence of persistent mild inflammation is widely considered to provide the immunopathogenic basis for bronchial, nasal, or sinusal inflammation between critical phases and in asymptomatic periods. Exhaled nitric oxide (NO) is currently the most reliable marker of rhinobronchial inflammation, but its routine assessment is difficult as the test is available only in highly specialized centers. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the agreement between a new diagnostic method (extracellular electrical impedance tomography) and immunological and clinical symptom scores, anterior rhinomanometry, peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) level, and blood eosinophil count in the clinical monitoring of respiratory tract inflammation before and after treatment of asthma or rhinitis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty-seven patients were studied; 73 had mild persistent asthma (PEFR > or = 20% below predicted) and 14 had rhinitis. At baseline (TO), the patients underwent a medical examination to record symptom scores, PEFR, anterior rhinomanometry, an extracellular electrolytic conductivity test (bioimpedance tomography), serum ECP level and blood eosinophil count. Appropriate treatment was prescribed, following the guidelines of the Global Initiative for Asthma and the Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma. After 21 days of therapy (T1), the patients were re-evaluated for the same parameters. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the good agreement (Cohen's kappa = 0.689) between the symptom scores of patients with rhinitis and the findings of extracellular tomography and very good agreement (kappa = 0.846) between symptom scores of asthma patients and extracellular tomography. These findings validate the use of this new technique for the real-time monitoring and adjustment of treatment in these clinical settings