2,971 publications from this institution
Luigi Mangiagalli (1850-1928) is a well known figure and a “founding father” of obstetrics and gynecology in Italy, but less recognized are the wide range implications of his work on a public health and social level. In fact, apart from its surgical, clinical and academic values, all the activities of Mangiagalli had a public health, and hence a political relevance. Thus, when at age 27 hewas named professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Sassari, Sardinia, he not only focused on the improvement of the local obstetrics clinic -when he arrived there were no beds and only a one broken forceps- and the control of puerperal infections, but also to the control of malaria and syphilis in pregnancy.
Introduction: Different metrics have been used to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the officially registered COVID-19 deaths.However, this metric has important limitations that can be partly addressed by considering total excess deaths.In this study, we compared trends in COVID-19 deaths in Italy with those observed globally and estimated the total number of excess deaths. Material and methods:We retrieved the number of COVID-19 deaths from the John Hopkins University and the daily number of deaths from any causes from the Italian National Institute of Statistics archives.We fitted an over-dispersed Poisson regression model on historical data to estimate the expected deaths.The models included terms for age, calendar year, a smooth function of the day of the year and an offset term for the population size to account for demographic changes, temporal trends in mortality and seasonality.The excess deaths were obtained by subtracting the number of observed deaths from the number of expected deaths.Results: As of March 2023, over 6.2 million COVID-19 deaths were registered globally (around 190,000 in Italy).In 2020, we estimated 99,341 excess deaths in Italy, 60,351 in 2021, and 66,303 in 2022.For the first 4 months of 2023, the number of observed deaths was slightly less than the number of expected deaths.The total excess from the beginning of the pandemic in Italy to the end of 2020 amount to approxi mately 226,000 deaths, a figure that exceeded COVID-19 deaths by 36,000.Conclusions: Excess total mortality is a key metric to quantify the overall impact of the pandemic.However, the limited availability of data in some densely populated countries introduces significant uncertainty into any global estimates.
A new mutagen, 2-chloro-4-methylthiobutanoic acid, has recently been identified from a nitrite-treated Japanese salted fish. Its structure suggests that it derives from methionine in the presence of salt and nitrite. We thus considered the interaction between intake of methionine, salt, and nitrites on gastric cancer risk using data from a case-control study conducted in Northern Italy on 746 cases of incident histologically confirmed gastric cancer and 2,053 controls in hospital for acute nonneoplastic nondigestive tract disorders. Compared with subjects reporting low-methionine and low-salt intake, the odds ratios (ORs) were 2.4 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.5 - 4.0] for those reporting low-salt and high-methionine, 1.5 (95% CI = 1.0 - 2.2) for those with high-salt and low-methionine, and 2.8 (95% CI = 1.9 - 4.2) for those with high-salt and high-methionine intake. Likewise, with reference to nitrites, compared with subjects with low-methionine and low-nitrite intake, the ORs were 1.9 (95% CI = 1.3 - 2.6) in the high-methionine and low-nitrite stratum, 1.5 (95% CI = 1.0 - 2.1) in the low-methionine and high-nitrite stratum, and 2.5 (95% CI = 1.9 - 3.2) in the high-methionine and high-nitrite stratum. All these estimates were statistically significant. Thus the present findings from a large case-control study conducted in a relatively high-incidence area for gastric cancer suggest that a diet rich in methionine, salt, and nitrite is associated with increased gastric cancer risk.
Record linkage - i.e. the use and linkage of electronic, mainly administrative databases - has been utilized in epidemiologic research for over three decades now, starting from the system implemented in a few US health maintenance organizations (HMO, i.e. the Kaiser Permanente network), a few Nordic countries systems, or the UK general practice research database (UK GPRD, now clinical practice research datalink,CPRD) [1, 2]...
The most probable interpretation of these trends is that therapeutic improvements--including more widespread and timely surgery, introduction of less invasive techniques, such as transurethral prostatectomy, and possibly the development of medical treatments--have had a favourable and substantial impact on BPH mortality. There are, however, areas of the world, including several countries of western Europe and South America, where rates are still very high.
To evaluate the association between diet and cancer risk in Mediterranean countries, data presented from a series of case-control studies conducted in Italy were reviewed. The series comprised over 20,000 cases affecting 20 cancer sites and included 18,000 controls. For most epithelial cancers, risk decreased with increasing vegetable and fruit consumption. Fish and whole grains (but not refined grains) were also favorable diet indicators. Olive oil and other monounsaturated and unsaturated fats were inversely related to cancer risk at several sites. A Mediterranean diet pattern appears to be favorable for a reduced cancer risk, indicating the importance of dietary patterns.
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This article explores age-related variations in breast cancer mortality in the western world and analyzes potential risk factors for older women. The highest breast cancer mortality rates are observed in England, Wales, and Denmark; the United States, Canada, Sweden, central and southern Europe have intermediate mortality rates; and Latin America and Russia have the lowest rates. Three case-control studies involving over 4000 Italian women demonstrate that age at menarche is a risk factor only for premenopausal women; multiparity (>5 births) increases the risk of breast cancer for women under age 35 years but reduces the risk of breast cancer for older women. Obesity is a risk factor only for postmenopausal women, and the influence of other risk factors, such as age at first birth, family history and late menopause, does not show age-related variations. The influence of diet and steroidal contraceptives on the breast cancer rate in older women is not established.
