Study for the quality assessment of abstracts presented to Italian public health national conferences: a six years survey.

BACKGROUND: Oral and poster presentations at congresses are essential to spread scientific knowledge among the medical community. Many scientific societies have analyzed the quality of papers presented at their meetings but no information on abstracts' evaluation has been presented in Public Health field. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study aims to examine the quality of abstracts presented at annual meetings of Italian Public Health Society (SItI) in the period 2005-2010 through a validated checklist grid, evaluating eight dimensions: Inherency, Structure, Originality, Objectives, Study design, Sources, Results, Conclusions. Each item was scored from 0 to 3 points (max score: 24) and we used the average score in our study (15) as threshold of good quality. A multivariate analysis was performed in order to investigate predictors of score of abstracts presented. RESULTS: A total of 4,399 abstracts (1,172 oral communications, 3,227 posters) was examined. Around 60% were submitted by Universities and around 40% were from Central Italy. The highest quality was found in the fields of Vaccines (average score 18.9), Infectious Diseases (18) and in abstracts submitted by Universities (16.4). Predictors of lower quality identified were geographical area and affiliation (p= 0.002). Abstracts containing well-written Results, Conclusions and Objectives (3 points) were more likely to be of high quality(OR=55.6, OR=41.9, and OR=157.4; p>0.001) CONCLUSIONS: This is the first European study evaluating the quality of abstracts in the public health field. A reliable evaluation tool is fundamental to offer a transparent methodology of assessment and to improve the quality of research.

[Role of the Web on behaviors and health choices in six Italian cities: results of a multicenter study]. / Ruolo del web sui comportamenti e sulle scelte sanitarie in sei città italiane: risultati di uno studio multicentrico.

A cross-sectional, multicenter study was carried out in 6 Italian cities (Cassino, Chieti, Naples, Rome, Siena, Turin) in order to highlight differences in Web use to find out health information and its related consequences on behavioral choices and to describe the distribution of the phenomenon in Italy. Data were collected from October 2009 to September 2010 on a sample of volunteers recruited from laboratory analysis, with face-to-face interview, including information about socio-demographic, health, and Web use to health. Data analysis shows that e-health use is greater in Northern Italy, in women aged 30-41 years, in chronic patients and those who have been caught up medical malpractice. Behavioral changes are associated with the Region; in particular Rome and Cassino show to choose/change professionals and facilities, engaging in alternative therapies and buy drugs online more frequently. Living in Southern Italy, a lower educational level and the infrequent drugs use are associated with a greater probability of incurring in negative behaviors. Positive results on the behavior are instead low and not significant. Given the regional differences, the potentiality and the risks of e-health use, it will be important to identify strategies for risks containment and implementation of the web in prevention.

[The Italian legislation on Health Impact Assessment: the current national and regional regulatory framework]. / La legislazione Italiana in materia di health impact asses- sment: il corrente quadro normativo nazionale e regionale.

The scientific literature on HIA is particularly rich in Anglo-Saxon countries (United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand), in Sweden and in the Netherlands, while in Italy there are not many scientific studies published on this theme. The study conducted showed that in Italy no laws relating to HIA have been enacted yet and that all laws enacted so far considered only EIA. Actually, legislation on environmental impact is in continuous expansion, even if at present, some regions have not yet passed a specified EIA-dealing law. In Italy the protection of health is promoted almost exclusively at a strictly medical level; decisions with strong social and environmental impact are not normally designed with particular regard to health issues. To increase in our country the interest for HIA, it would seem appropriate to discuss the usefulness of introducing health impact assessment in national and regional legislation. A possible law may indeed sensitize non-health decision makers to HIA, bringing Italy among the most innovative countries.

Involvement of CD45 in dexamethasone- and heat shock-induced apoptosis of rat thymocytes.

CD45 is a transmembrane tyrosine-specific phosphatase which participates in lymphoid cell signal transduction during T cell activation, as well as in intrathymic negative and positive selection. In mammals, this molecule exhibits a variety of isoforms of different molecular weight, whose roles have still to be fully elucidated. We report here that apoptosis of rat thymocytes after in vitro dexamethasone and heat shock treatment was accompanied by an early significative increase of cells expressing CD45RC, the high molecular weight isoform of CD45 molecule. The same phenomenon was observed in thymocytes derived from in vivo dexamethasone-treated rats. However, the increase of CD45RC+ cells was not apparently characteristic of cells undergoing apoptosis, as the same phenomenon was also observed in rat thymocytes induced to proliferate by Concanavalin A. On the whole, these results suggest that CD45 modulation can be added to the list of early molecular events, such as the increased expression of genes (ornithine decarboxylase), proto-oncogenes (c-fos, c-jun, c-myc) and activation of transcription factors (AP-1, NFkB), we previously demonstrated in the same experimental model to occur and to be shared by these two apparently opposite biological processes, i.e., cell proliferation and apoptosis, both likely depending on a complex balance of protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation.

Sendai virus and herpes virus type 1 induce apoptosis in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Recent reports suggest that several viruses, besides human immunodeficiency virus, induce apoptosis in infected cells. We report here that Sendai virus or Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), two potent inducers of interferon-alpha, caused cell death in a consistent number of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. A careful analysis of infected cells by different techniques, such as optical and electron microscopy, DNA agarose gel electrophoresis, and cytofluorimetric analysis of DNA content, showed that cell death was of apoptotic type. Sendai virus was more apoptogenic than HSV-1, and it was further studied to understand the mechanism(s) by which it induced apoptosis. Physical (uv and heat) and chemical (beta-propiolactone) inactivation reduced or abolished the apoptogenic power of Sendai virus. The use of a novel technique, which allows the study of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in intact cells by flow cytometry, showed that a decrease of MMP is concomitant with the appearance of the hypodiploid peak. These results suggest that Sendai virus and HSV-1 can be added to the list of viruses causing apoptosis, which appears to be a general mechanism occurring during viral infection.

Apoptosis and spermatogenesis: evidence from an in vivo model of testosterone withdrawal in the adult rat.

The seminiferous epithelium is a highly proliferating tissue in which germ cell "degeneration" is a constant feature. Recent data based on morphological analysis have shown that spontaneously dying germ cells display some characteristics of apoptosis. In order to evaluate the molecular signals controlling the phenomenon, adult male rats were studied after in vivo treatment with ethane dimethane sulphonate, an agent which leads to testosterone withdrawal by a selective destruction of Leydig cells. DNA fragmentation by agarose gel electrophoresis and cell DNA content by flow cytometry after propidium iodide staining were used to evaluate and quantify apoptosis in the testis. Despite the simultaneous presence of cells with different ploidies, the present data suggest that testosterone withdrawal induces death by apoptosis and that this phenomenon is particularly evident in haploid germ cells. Thus, this study support the involvement of testosterone in regulating programmed cell death, beside cell proliferation and differentiation, during spermatogenesis.