The State of the Evidence about the Family and Community Nurse: A Systematic Review.

INTRODUCTION: The increase in chronic degenerative diseases poses many challenges to the efficacy and sustainability of healthcare systems, establishing the family and community nurse (FCN) who delivers primary care as a strategic role. FCNs, indeed, can embrace the complexity of the current healthcare demand, sustain the ageing of the population, and focus on illness prevention and health promotion, ensuring a continuous and coordinated integration between hospitals and primary care ser. The literature on FCNs is rich but diverse. This study aimed to critically summarise the literature about the FCN, providing an overall view of the recent evidence. METHODS: A state-of-art systematic review was performed on PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus, employing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement and checklist to guide the search and reporting. RESULTS: Five interpretative themes emerged from the 90 included articles: clinical practice, core competencies, outcomes, Organisational and educational models, and advanced training program. CONCLUSIONS: FCNs can make a major contribution to a population's health, playing a key role in understanding and responding to patients' needs. Even if the investment in prevention does not guarantee immediate required strategies and foresight on the part of decisionmakers, it is imperative to invest more political, institutional, and economic resources to support and ensure the FCNs' competencies and their professional autonomy.

Combined larvicidal and adulticidal treatments to control Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae): Results of a pilot study.

Culicoides biting midges can transmit viruses such as bluetongue virus and Schmallenberg virus to ruminants and African horse sickness virus to equines. The control of Culicoides population can be based on physical and/or chemical methods. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of larvicides and adulticides combined treatments to control the vector Culicoides populations. Field trials have been conducted during 2014 on seven farms in northern Sardinia (Italy). Three insecticide treatments (larvicides and adulticides) have been carried out on three farms, whereas four farms remained unsprayed as untreated controls. For the larval control two commercial formulations, based on diflubenzuron and Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (H-14), have been used. Against adults a deltamethrin based product has been sprayed on the walls and roofs of animal shelters. Adult Culicoides have been collected on each farm twice a week with an Onderstepoort blacklight suction trap. After each treatment a significant reduction in the abundance of total Culicoides, C. imicola and C. newsteadi s.l., has been observed. The Obsoletus complex density has been affected by the first two treatments. Our results suggest the possibility to control the Culicoides populations with a combination of adulticide and larvicide treatments.