Trends of influenza B during the 2010–2016 seasons in 2 regions of north and south Italy: The impact of the vaccine mismatch on influenza immunisation strategy

Influenza A and B viruses are responsible for respiratory infections, representing globally seasonal threats to human health. The 2 viral types often co-circulate and influenza B plays an important role in the spread of infection. A 6-year retrospective surveillance study was conducted between 2010 and 2016 in 2 large administrative regions of Italy, located in the north (Liguria) and in the south (Sicily) of the country, to describe the burden and epidemiology of both B/Victoria and B/Yamagata lineages in different healthcare settings. Influenza B viruses were detected in 5 of 6 seasonal outbreaks, exceeding influenza A during the season 2012–2013. Most of influenza B infections were found in children aged ≤ 14 y and significant differences were observed in the age-groups infected by the different lineages. B/Victoria strains prevailed in younger population than B/Yamagata, but also were more frequently found in the community setting. Conversely, B/Yamagata viruses were prevalent among hospitalized cases suggesting their potential role in the development of more severe disease. The relative proportions of viral lineages varied from year to year, resulting in different lineage-level mismatch for the B component of trivalent influenza vaccine. Our findings confirmed the need for continuous virological surveillance of seasonal epidemics and bring attention to the adoption of universal influenza immunization program in the childhood. The use of tetravalent vaccine formulations may be useful to improve the prevention and control of the influenza burden in general population

Synchrotron radiation photoionization mass spectrometry of laser ablated species

The present paper describes an experimental apparatus suitable to create and study free clusters by combining laser ablation and synchrotron radiation. First tests on sulfur samples, S, showed the production, through laser ablation, of neutral Sn clusters (n = 1–8). These clusters were ionized using synchrotron radiation at photon energies from 160 eV to 175 eV, across the S 2p core edge. The feasibility of such combined ablation–synchrotron radiation experiments is demonstrated, opening new possibilities on the investigation of free clusters and radical

The molecular epidemiology and evolutionary dynamics of influenza B virus in two Italian regions during 2010-2015: The experience of Sicily and Liguria

Molecular epidemiology of influenza B virus remained poorly studied in Italy, despite representing a major contributor to seasonal epidemics. This study aimed to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships and genetic diversity of the hemagglutinin gene sequences of 197 influenza B strains circulating in both Southern (Sicily) and Northern (Liguria) Italy between 2010 and 2015. Upper respiratory tract specimens of patients displaying symptoms of influenza-like illness were screened by real-time RT-PCR assay for the presence of influenza B virus. PCR-positive influenza B samples were further analyzed by sequencing. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic trees were constructed and the amino-acid alignments were analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis showed clusters in B/Victoria clade 1A/1B (n = 29, 14.7%), and B/Yamagata clades 2 (n = 112, 56.8%) and 3 (n = 56, 28.4%). Both influenza B lineages were found to co-circulate during the study period, although a lineage swap from B/Victoria to B/Yamagata occurred in Italy between January 2011 and January 2013. The most represented amino-acid substitutions were N116K in the 120-loop (83.9% of B/Yamagata clade 3 strains) and I146V in the 150-loop (89.6% of B/Victoria clade 1 strains). D197N in 190-helix was found in almost all viruses collected. Our findings provide further evidence to support the adoption of quadrivalent influenza vaccines in our country

Investigating geographic and temporal genetic variation in the black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) in the Italian Alps

The black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) is a Galliform distributed across northern Eurasia, and is a game bird in most EU countries. Although the species is listed as ‘Least Concern’ by the IUCN, populations at the western and southern edges of its range are considered ‘Vulnerable’ due to increasing habitat fragmentation and human disturbance. Between 1995 and 2017, in collaboration with several hunting associations, we collected more than 600 black grouse samples across seven regions of the Italian Alps. Ten microsatellite markers (STRs) and 2442 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) were analysed in large subsets of the collected data, with the aim of identifying environmental, temporal and anthropic factors that affect the distribution and level of genomic variation. The main factor shaping the genetic distances between populations based on STRs is the geographic distance between them (i.e. isolation-bydistance), but even the populations on the two extremes of our sampling area are very similar (Fst between the two regions = 0.053). SNP data supports the STR analysis. However, isolation-by-resistance methods for the larger STR data set show that both higher altitudes and urban areas inhibit movement of grouse between populations. While temporal analysis of STRs for the Trentino-Alto Adige region showed no significant change in the mean number of alleles and allelic size range between the two time frames studied (e.g. mean number of alleles 1995-1999: 8.8, 2009-2010: 8.2), and the expected heterozygosity was high in both time frames (1995-1999: 0.740, 2009-2010: 0.722). While black grouse population size is reportedly decreasing, our results suggest there is no measurable genetic impact from this trend. Hence this dataset provides a basis for future monitoring of genetic diversity in this charismatic alpine species

Do the omeprazole family compounds exert a protective effect against influenza-like illness?

BACKGROUND: Infections by influenza viruses place a heavy burden on public health and economies worldwide. Although vaccines are the best weapons against influenza, antiviral drugs could offer an opportunity to alleviate the burden of influenza. Since omeprazole family compounds block the “proton pump”, we hypothesized that they could interfere with the mechanism of fusion of the virus envelope and endosomal membrane, thereby hindering the M2 proton pump mechanism of influenza viruses. METHODS: A matched case-control study was performed in 2010-2011 in Italy. Cases were subjects aged over 18 years with a diagnosis of Influenza-like Illness (ILI); 254 case-control pairs were recruited. A multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between the prevention of ILI and the administration of omeprazole family compounds. The interaction between omeprazole family compounds and influenza vaccination was also examined. RESULTS: After control for potential confounders, subjects treated with omeprazole family compounds displayed a lower risk of catching ILI (OR(adj) = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.15-0.52). The risk of ILI in unvaccinated non-OFC users was about six times than that in vaccinated OFC users. CONCLUSIONS: Although confirmation is necessary, these results suggest that omeprazole family compounds could be profitably used in the prevention of ILI

How should vaccination services be planned, organized, and managed? Results from a survey on the Italian vaccination services

BACKGROUND: Quality improvement is an increasingly recognized approach to maximize service effectiveness and minimize costs in public health. However, the Italian law never provided for the institutional accreditation of vaccination services. Furthermore, a recently approved law added six more compulsory vaccinations to the original four, which has led to a considerable increase in vaccination efforts, without any previous resources evaluation. The aim of the study was to investigate structural, organizational and managerial characteristics of the Italian vaccination services, in order to suggest the adoption of adequate quality standards. STUDY DESIGN: A survey involving the representatives of the Italian Regions and Autonomous Provinces was performed between September 2017 and September 2018. METHODS: An online questionnaire, including 26 items, designed to evaluate the structural, organizational and managerial characteristics of vaccination services was administered. The correlation between the number of vaccination centres and the coverage for each region was used to evaluate the performance of the vaccination services. RESULTS: Respondents from seven Regions, totaling >15,000,000 inhabitants, answered the questionnaire. Overall, each vaccination service was potentially accessed by an average of 519 children aged zero to 24 months, with a \u3b2-coefficient of -0.87 (p = 0.01) for infant vaccination coverage in 2016. Eighty-five percent of vaccination services were provided with architectural features to accommodate the disabled but only 49% provided reserved parking lots. An average of 0.4 physicians and 0.6 other healthcare workers per 10,000 inhabitants were employed in vaccination services, with complete computerization in 74% of them. CONCLUSION: The inverse relation between vaccination services' spatial accessibility and vaccination coverage suggests that distance and accessibility of vaccination services should be considered in planning. This survey constitutes a baseline data for Italian vaccination services that could be useful for decision makers in establishing minimum requirements to provide high-quality preventive healthcare service

Assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and propensity towards HPV vaccine of young adult students in Italy

Background: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI), representing the main cause of genital warts and cervical cancer. This cross-sectional study evaluated knowledge and attitudes about HPV infection, related diseases, and prevention and propensity towards HPV vaccine among undergraduate students. Methods: An online and written survey about HPV and its prevention, targeted to young adults of both genders, was addressed to students attending health sciences and other schools at Universities of Genoa and Bari. Results: The overall median knowledge and attitude scores were 56.3% (25\u201375 p = 40\u201368.8%) and four out of five (25\u201375 p = 4\u20135), respectively. In the multivariate analysis, attending a health sciences university, using social networks 642 h a day, a history of STI, having heard about HPV and HPV vaccine previously resulted as predictors of higher knowledge scores. Having heard about HPV previously also predicted a high attitude score, together with a perceived economic status as good. Having Italian and healthcare worker parents, being employed, and following a specific diet, instead, predicted lower attitude score. Conclusions: Poor knowledge and good attitudes were found among undergraduates about HPV. In order to increase HPV vaccine compliance and the counselling skills of future healthcare workers, the improvement of training on HPV is needed

Single-crystal Diamond Detector for DT and DD plasmas diagnostic

Single-crystal Diamond Detectors (SDD) are good candidates as high-energy neutron detectors in the extreme conditions of the next generation thermonuclear fusion facilities like the ITER experiment, due to their high radiation hardness, fast response time and small size. Neutron detection in SDDs is based on the collection of electron-hole pairs produced by charged particles generated by neutron interaction on 12C. In this work the SDD response to neutrons with energies between 2.8 and 3.8MeV was determined at the Legnaro CN accelerator at the INFN Laboratories in Legnaro (PD, Italy). This work is relevant for the characterization of SDDs response functions, which are key points for Deuterium-Deuterium and Deuterium-Tritium plasma diagnostic