The "Investigating and translating genomic evidence for public health response to SARS-CoV-2 (INSIDE SARS-CoV-2)" project is part of the initiative "Joint science and technology cooperation call for joint project proposals for the years 2021-2023" promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and the Republic of India. To start the project activities, the pandemic response and the epidemiological situation in Italy and in India, together with the genomic surveillance strategies for SARS-CoV-2 virus in the two countries, are here described.

In 2005, the Italian Ministry of Health entrusted the National Agency for Regional Healthcare Services (Agenzia Nazionale per i Servizi Sanitari Regionali, AGENAS) with the task of monitoring the implementation of recommendations to prevent sentinel events, which are serious adverse events that can compromise patient safety. The aim is to provide Regions and healthcare facilities with a standardised method for managing these events. Currently, there are nineteen recommendations developed with the support of regional experts and other stakeholders. This study assessed the applicability and implementation of these recommendations in Italy, also comparing data on the most frequently reported sentinel events. The study, conducted from March to October 2023, involved all acute care, rehabilitation, and post-acute long-term care facilities, both public and private. A questionnaire was used to gather information on the applicability and implementation of the recommendations as of December 31, 2022. The data were analysed using the statistical software Jamovi. 34.7% of the facilities found no recommendations applicable, while 18.4% considered all 19 recommendations. Regarding implementation, 35.5% did not implement any recommendations, while 11.3% implemented all 19. In particular, Recommendation 4 ("Prevention of patient suicide in hospital") was not implemented by 16% of the facilities. The applicability of the recommendations varies depending on the type of facility. The implementation rate is influenced by the diversity of participating facilities. The low implementation of Recommendation 4 suggests a need for further investigation to understand the challenges faced.

At the beginning of 2020, worldwide public debate focused on the fight against the climate crisis. Many challenges are ahead of us, from health emergencies, with the pandemics underway, to the exhaustion of natural resources, to major climate change. Many cities face health threats related to urban and land use planning, while infectious diseases thrive in overcrowded cities: living in unhealthy environments killed 12,6 million people in 2012 and air pollution killed 7 million people in 2016. Urbanization is one of the major global trends of the 21st century and has a significant impact on health. Over 55% of the world's population lives in urban areas, a percentage that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. Developing new and more sustainable ways of living, moving, utilizing resources, and accessing services including healthcare and education, is crucial to preserve our future and the future of the next generations.

In recent years, the number of migrants referred to centres for cognitive disorders and dementias has increased. The aim of this study was to provide information on the provision of care for migrants with dementia through the perceptions and experiences of the professionals and caregivers involved. The study is an exploratory qualitative research. Between 2020 and 2021, three focus group, involving caregiver and professionals were organized. The study explored several areas of care provision including needs, cultural representation of dementia, strengths and weaknesses and opportunities for improvement in care provision. The perceptions of people directly involved in dementia care provide critical insights into the functioning of the care system, capturing nuances that standard care practices may overlook. Disorientation between services, language barriers and cultural representations of the disease are the main obstacles to continuity of care. A more holistic approach, which also addresses the emotional and social implications of dementia, is essential in ensuring equitable, timely and culturally sensitive care.

Mosquitoes represent a way of spreading infectious diseases, as vectors of pathogens. Many types of ultrasonic devices have recently been promoted as effective and suitable alternatives to the use of biocides known as toxic to humans and environment. Four ultrasonic mosquito repellers have been analysed and tested on females of two species, Culex pipiens and Aedes albopictus, in laboratory conditions. The behavior of the mosquitoes of reaching the attractant, with the repellers both at ON and OFF, was observed. The total mean number of Cx. pipiens interested to attractant when the repellers were ON was 2.8 versus 2.9 at OFF. The total mean number of Ae. albopictus interested to attractant when the repellers were ON was 5.5 versus 6.1 at OFF. The repellence efficacy resulted not significant (P>0.05) in all the electronic ultrasound repellers tested. The number of mosquitoes of both species, displaying the attractant's search behavior appeared independent from the switch ON/OFF mode. Open questions remain: the need of conducting further research to establish a relationship between ultrasonic emission and mosquito effective disturbance.

Originally established to evaluate the ethical aspects of clinical trials, Ethics Committees (ECs) are now requested to review different types of projects, including, among others, observational studies and disease registries. In Italy, clinical trials on medicinal products for human use and on medical devices are regulated by EU Regulation 536/2014, EU Regulation 2017/745, and 2017/746 while pharmacological observational studies are regulated by the Italian Medicines Agency guidelines of 2008 and by Ministerial Decree of November 30th, 2021. The other types of studies are not strictly regulated, causing discrepancies in their definition and assessment by the ECs, and slowdowns in the start of projects. The present contribution aims to propose definitions and distinctions between non-pharmacological observational studies and disease registries, which constitute different entities but are often assimilated by ECs, and to formulate suggestions for the evaluation of rare disease registries, which are an expanding research area of interest.

The management of Long COVID symptoms is necessary. This study proposes a screening tool for psycho-physical COVID-19 sequelae. Patients' experiences after COVID-19 are also described. 84 COVID-19 patients (66.2±11.0 years old; 71.4% male) underwent a phone interview 1-2 years after the disease using the ad-hoc "Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 Checklist (PASC-C)". It explores 30 physical, psychological, and cognitive symptoms clustered into 10 areas, with possible clinical recommendations in case of high severity scores (>50) of a symptom or the presence of two or more ones within the same area. Overall, fatigue (69%), dyspnea (52.4%), memory disturbances (44%), joint-muscle pain (41.7%), vision/hearing loss (40.5%), anxiety (40.5%) persist one-two years after COVID-19 disease. Being a survivor was primarily defined in terms of being "lucky". PASC-C seems promising in monitoring psycho-physical sequelae of Long COVID and providing tailored suggestions to care for the patient over time.

There is "no Flexibility without Stability and no Stability without Flexibility": this is a crucial feature common to any system interacting with its environment. This tight link between two apparently opposite features is at the basis of the time-honoured concept of homeostasis (the tendency of any adaptive system to go back to its "comfort zone" contrasting the incoming perturbations) and is widely recognized since long time. On the contrary, the fact that the escape from a stable attractor state is a consequence of the same homeostasis mechanisms is often overlooked. In this brief note, we will try to give a proof-of-concept of the relation existing between stability/flexibility based homeostasis and the state changes at all the levels of biological organization. The ubiquity of the same principles across very different systems is a signature of a new attitude to look at scientific enterprise from a network-based viewpoint.

It is crucial to monitor changes in body weight and physical activity (PA) to understand if short-term effects of COVID-19 pandemic have had implications over time. This longitudinal study is based on data from 4,831 Italians aged 18-74 years interviewed during the first phase of COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020) and two years later (February-March 2022). Changes in body weight and PA were assessed through multivariable analyses in association with socio-demographic and psychological characteristics. Over the two years, 17.4% reported a weight gain of at least 5 kg and 32.8% a decreased PA by at least 4 hours per week. Weight gain and decreased PA were more frequent in participants from the less wealthy areas, with lower educational level and those who reported a worsening in mental health. After two years from the start of the pandemic, in Italy we observed a trend toward a renormalization of body weight and PA. The segments of the population mostly affected by the pandemic are subjects with more disadvantaged socio-economic status and with an impaired mental health.

Since 2013, European countries have transposed the 2013/59/EURATOM Directive that lays down basic safety standards for protection against dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation. In the years between the issuance of the European Directive and its formal transposition, Italian researchers investigated solutions to renew the technological, educational, and organizational culture in radiology departments. This article proposed a reflection on the contribution of Organizational Health Literacy (OHL) to implement Legislative Decree 101/2020 in the practice of Italian radiology departments. By implementing OHL principles, examinations with exposure to ionizing radiation and related informative processes could be personalized based on patients' knowledge, abilities, and competencies, as well as on the services' provision. These principles can be in fact integrated with the organizational, training, and management requirements set by the Directive. According with the state-of-the-art, decision-makers and health managers could support the application of OHL principles in Italian radiology departments.