The effects of containment measures in the Italian outbreak of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading worldwide. Italy emerged early on as the country with the largest outbreak outside Asia. The outbreak in Northern Italy demonstrates that it is fundamental to contain the virus' spread at a very early stage of diffusion. At later stages, no containment measure, even if strict, can prevent the saturation of the hospitals and of the intensive care units in any country. Here we show that it is possible to predict when the intensive care units will saturate, within a few days from the beginning of the exponential growth of COVID-19 intensive care patients. Using early counts of intensive care patients, we predict the saturation for Lombardy, Italy. We also assess short-term and long-term lockdown effects on intensive care units and number of deaths. Governments should use the Italian outbreak as a precedent and implement appropriate containment measures to prevent the saturation of their intensive care units and protect their population, also, and above all, in anticipation of a possible second exponential spread of infections.

Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins confer water stress tolerance to mammalian somatic cells.

Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins are commonly found in plants and other organisms capable of undergoing severe and reversible dehydration, a phenomenon termed "anhydrobiosis". Here, we have produced a tagged version for three different LEA proteins: pTag-RAB17-GFP-N, Zea mays dehydrin-1dhn, expressed in the nucleo-cytoplasm; pTag-WCOR410-RFP, Tricum aestivum cold acclimation protein WCOR410, binds to cellular membranes, and pTag-LEA-BFP, Artemia franciscana LEA protein group 3 that targets the mitochondria. Sheep fibroblasts transfected with single or all three LEA proteins were subjected to air drying under controlled conditions. After rehydration, cell viability and functionality of the membrane/mitochondria were assessed. After 4 h of air drying, cells from the un-transfected control group were almost completely nonviable (1% cell alive), while cells expressing LEA proteins showed high viability (more than 30%), with the highest viability (58%) observed in fibroblasts expressing all three LEA proteins. Growth rate was markedly compromised in control cells, while LEA-expressing cells proliferated at a rate comparable to non-air-dried cells. Plasmalemma, cytoskeleton and mitochondria appeared unaffected in LEA-expressing cells, confirming the protection conferred by LEA proteins on these organelles during dehydration stress. This is likely to be an effective strategy when aiming to confer desiccation tolerance to mammalian cells.

Folate-based single cell screening using surface enhanced Raman microimaging.

Recent progress in nanotechnology and its application to biomedical settings have generated great advantages in dealing with early cancer diagnosis. The identification of the specific properties of cancer cells, such as the expression of particular plasma membrane molecular receptors, has become crucial in revealing the presence and in assessing the stage of development of the disease. Here we report a single cell screening approach based on Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) microimaging. We fabricated a SERS-labelled nanovector based on the biofunctionalization of gold nanoparticles with folic acid. After treating the cells with the nanovector, we were able to distinguish three different cell populations from different cell lines (cancer HeLa and PC-3, and normal HaCaT lines), suitably chosen for their different expressions of folate binding proteins. The nanovector, indeed, binds much more efficiently on cancer cell lines than on normal ones, resulting in a higher SERS signal measured on cancer cells. These results pave the way for applications in single cell diagnostics and, potentially, in theranostics.

Soft Tissue Stability around Single Implants Inserted to Replace Maxillary Lateral Incisors: A 3D Evaluation.

Purpose. To evaluate the soft tissue stability around single implants inserted to replace maxillary lateral incisors, using an innovative 3D method. Methods. We have used reverse-engineering software for the superimposition of 3D surface models of the dentogingival structures, obtained from intraoral scans of the same patients taken at the delivery of the final crown (S1) and 2 years later (S2). The assessment of soft tissues changes was performed via calculation of the Euclidean surface distances between the 3D models, after the superimposition of S2 on S1; colour maps were used for quantification of changes. Results. Twenty patients (8 males, 12 females) were selected, 10 with a failing/nonrestorable lateral incisor (test group: immediate placement in postextraction socket) and 10 with a missing lateral incisor (control group: conventional placement in healed ridge). Each patient received one immediately loaded implant (Anyridge®, Megagen, Gyeongbuk, South Korea). The superimposition of the 3D surface models taken at different times (S2 over S1) revealed a mean (±SD) reduction of 0.057 mm (±0.025) and 0.037 mm (±0.020) for test and control patients, respectively. This difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.069). Conclusions. The superimposition of the 3D surface models revealed an excellent peri-implant soft tissue stability in both groups of patients, with minimal changes registered along time.

[Promoting the quality of health surveillance of workers exposed to wood dust, with particular care to NPSC, in the territory of the Health Agency of Florence]. / Promozione della qualità della sorveglianza sanitaria dei lavoratori esposti a polvere di legno, con particolare riferimento ai TuNS, nel territorio di competenza della Azienda Sanitoria di Firenze.

Wood dust can cause occupational-related naso-sinusal cancer, characterized by a latency period of about 40 years. The Tuscany Cancer Registry estimates that cases of NPSC are from 20-25 per year into the Region (33% related to wood dust). These neoplasms are surgically treatable at early-stage and, for this reason, a rapid endoscopic diagnosis is considered to be reasonably useful for prognostic issues. We used a questionnaire to investigate nasal symptoms and NOSQ and SOLAR questionnaires to highlight respiratory/skins diseases, and a spirometry for each worker. Subjects with a working-age of more than 15 years, and those that were positive to the questionnaire and/or to the medical history were were referred to a specialist in otolaryngology. The prevalence of endoscopic positive findings--detected especially in subjects with a working age of more than 15 years--confirms the significance of the problem.

[Employment of disabled people regarding Italian Law "68/99": Florence's ASL N. 10 experience]. / Inserimento lavorativo dei soggetti disabili ai sensi della legge 68/99: l'esperienza della ASL10 di Firenze.

The reform of mandatory employment in Italy, performed by the national Law 68/99, represented a crucial step for the assertion of the right to work for disabled people. The aim of our experience is to obtain information about health and safety conditions of disabled people employed in targeted workplaces and about the issues for that workers keep or lose their job, possibly in order to take actions on workplaces and to improve job conditions for all other workers also. In this paper we used data regarding targeted employments of disabled people, collected during the year 2008 in the Province of Florence.

Carpal tunnel syndrome and ulnar neuropathy at the elbow in floor cleaners.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the occurrence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and ulnar neuropathy at the elbow (UNE) in a cohort of floor cleaners and to check differences between workers with and without CTS. METHODS: All female floor cleaners of three major hospitals in Tuscany (Italy) were contacted. Clinical and electrophysiological severity of CTS and UNE were evaluated with standardized scales and symptoms were assessed with the self-administered Boston Questionnaire (BQ); demographic and non-occupational factors and durations of current and previous occupations were recorded. Univariate analysis of risk factors was performed in workers with and without CTS. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the capacity of independent variables to predict CTS. RESULTS: Out of a total of 179 cleaners, 145 (81%)-mean age 39.6 years (20-64 years)-were enrolled in the study; 70 (48%) had CTS (diagnosis based on clinical and electrophysiological findings). BQ symptom and hand function scores were anomalous in 108 (74%) and 84 (58%) subjects, respectively. UNE was detected in 7/103 women. Univariate analysis showed that cleaners with CTS were older, had greater BMI and longer exposure to cleaning with previous employers than those without CTS. In the logistic regression, the only predictor of CTS was cleaning with previous employers (O.R. 12.1, 95% CI 3-49.9). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate a high occurrence of CTS in floor cleaners; UNE is less frequent than CTS, presumably due to repetitive movements that stress wrists more than elbows. The only predictive factor of CTS was cleaning as an occupation with previous employers. Therefore, the actual risk factor for CTS could not be cleaning per se, but how this job is performed.