Italian Intervention Research Articles

Polypharmacy Management in Chronic Conditions: A Systematic Literature Review of Italian Interventions.

Background: Potentially inappropriate polypharmacy (PIP) is among the major factors leading to adverse drug reactions, increased healthcare costs, reduced medication adherence, and worsened patient conditions. This study aims to identify existing interventions implemented to monitor and manage polypharmacy in the Italian setting. Methods: A systematic literature review (PROSPERO: CRD42023457049) was carried out according to the PRISMA statement guidelines. PubMed, Embase, ProQuest, and Web of Science were queried without temporal constraints, encompassing all published papers until October 2023. Inclusion criteria followed the PICO model: patients with polypharmacy; interventions to monitor/manage polypharmacy regimen versus no/any intervention; outcomes in terms of intervention effectiveness and cost variation. Results: After duplicate deletion, 153 potentially relevant publications were extracted. Following abstract and full-text screenings, nine articles met the inclusion criteria. Overall, 78% (n = 7) were observational studies, 11% (n = 1) were experimental studies, and 11% (n = 1) were two-phase studies. A total of 44% (n = 4) of the studies involved patients aged ≥ 65 years, while 56% (n = 5) were disease-specific. Monitoring was the most prevalent choice of intervention (67%; n = 6). Outcomes were mainly related to levels of polypharmacy (29%; n = 6) and comorbidities (29%; n = 6), effectiveness rates (14%; n = 3), and avoidable costs (9%; n = 2). Conclusions: This review outlines that Italy is still lacking in interventions to monitor/manage PIP, addressing an unmet need in developing patient-tailored strategies for reducing health-system burden.

Results of European Heart Network Pilot Project “A Vending Machine for a Friend”

Children often grow up in obesogenic environments that promote unhealthy diets. Consequently, many European children are overweight. Vending machines (that usually distribute foods rich in fat, sugar, salt and calories) located in schools are one factor that contributes to this. The aim of the pilot project “A vending machine for a friend" of the Italian Society for Cardiovascular Prevention (SIPREC) in collaboration with the Lithuanian Heart Association (LHA) and under the aegis and sponsorship of the European Heart Network (EHN), has been to regulate and improve the nutritional quality of food and beverages served in vending machines, cafeterias and school canteens. In the pilot project were included 3 Italian and 2 Lithuanian high schools. Seventy-eight Italian students and seventy-eight Lithuanian students in the 2^nd and 3^rd year of high school, joined the intervention group, undertaking to consume only foods and beverages from “healthy” vending machines and healthy snacks in the cafeteria, versus seventy-seven Italian students and ninety-seven Lithuanian students in the 2^nd and 3^rd year of high school who were part of the control group. The intervention has also included an education and training program on healthy food dedicated to the students and to the teachers. The results of the Body Mass Index (BMI) in the intervention group (-2.1% in the Italian intervention group versus +0.0% in the control group and -2.2% in the Lithuanian intervention group versus +0.5% in the control group), and of the questionnaire administered after the seminars (+53.4% of improvement in the Italian intervention group versus just +2,5% in the control group, and +21.6% of improvement in the Lithuanian intervention group versus +3% in the control group), indicates the good results achieved by the students who have participated in the project. “Healthy” vending machines together with educational programs might be a good strategy for creation of a healthy nutritional environment in high schools to tackle overweight and obesity in adolescents. Bigger studies are needed to prove concept.

Italy’s Military Operations Abroad (1945–2020): Data, Patterns, and Trends

ABSTRACT A significant engagement in military missions is probably the most distinctive feature of post-Cold War Italian foreign policy. In the last three decades, Italy has participated in an extensive number of operations across the world, including those in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. Several studies have described Italian troop deployments abroad, providing alternative explanations of the Italian military activism. However, despite a recent growing attention on the topic, mainly focusing on specific peacekeeping operations, a comprehensive investigation of the evolution of Italian interventions is still missing. In other words, a detailed picture of main trends, data and patterns – since the end of the Second World War – is lacking. This article aims to fill this gap, using the most detailed and complete data on Italy’s participation in peace and security operations to date. We show that Italian involvement steadily grew between 1990 and 2010 and decreased in the following ten years. Our empirical findings also indicate how Italy’s efforts were increasingly directed in the Mediterranean and North Africa region in recent years. The article contributes to the existing literature on military operations abroad by offering a broad quantitative perspective on the post-Cold War defence policy of a ‘middle power’.

The Multilevel Pathway in MSTs for the Evaluation and Treatment of Parents and Minor Victims of ACEs: Qualitative Analysis of the Intervention Protocol.

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may be an important risk factor for the onset of developmental psychopathological disorders. Families involved in ACEs are often the subject of social or welfare policies aimed solely at the victim, without a proper consideration of family functionality. Methods: We describe the results of an Italian intervention project, which aimed to reinforce both the local networking of the Campania region, and the skills of the operators involved in actions to prevent and combat ACEs. The project was characterized by different phases and two actions, namely: (1) diagnosis and therapy aimed at child victims of ACEs and their families; (2) supervision of the operators of the multidisciplinary specialized teams (MSTs). Results: 99% of the cases under review were characterized by intra-family violence; 34% suffered psychological abuse, 33% neglect, 23% inappropriate care, 4% sexual abuse, 3% excessive care and 3% physical abuse. Conclusions: Thanks to the interventions carried out, severe and chronic ACE situations were recognized, and processes of de-institutionalization and the construction of life projects were carried out in accordance with the territorial services. This offered child victims and their families an opportunity to restore the conditions of well-being, both for the growth of the individual and the family system.

Hospital volume allocation: integrating decision maker and patient perspectives

Planning problems in healthcare systems have received greater attention in the last decade, especially because of the concerns recently raised about the scattering of surgical interventions among a wide number of different facilities that can undermine the quality of the outcome due to the volume-outcome association. In this paper, an approach to plan the amount of surgical interventions that a facility has to perform to assure a low adjusted mortality rate is proposed. The approach explicitly takes into account the existing interaction among patients’ choices and decision makers’ planning decisions. The first objective of the proposed approach is to find a solution able to reach quality in health outcomes and patients’ adherence. The second objective is to investigate the difference among solutions that are identified as optimal by either only one of the actors’ perspective, i.e., decision makers and patients, or by considering both the perspectives simultaneously. Following these objectives, the proposed approach is applied to a case study on Italian colon cancer interventions performed in 2014. Results confirm a variation in the hospital planned volumes when considering patients’ behaviour together with the policy maker plan, especially due to personal preferences and lack of information about hospital quality.

Italy’s Intervention To WWI. The “Home Front” And The Psychological Heritage

This paper aims to share the most updated results of the Italian and foreign historiography about howand why the Italians split on the opportunity to go to war joining the Entente powers and on the Italiansociety in the war years. The better part of the supporters of the intervention argued that the war was thegreat opportunity for completing national unity. Aside or behind this rational aim purposes such as imposingto Italian people an ordeal so to bring it to maturity and self-confidence were present. The leftist supportersof the intervention looked beyond the immediate territorial interests and aimed at the destructionof the “prison of the peoples”, to say the Habsburg Empire. One of them was Benito Mussolini, who usedto be a prominent left-wing socialist and traumatically broke with his comrades joining the pro-war front.Catholics, socialists and many liberals, in sum the majority of the country, did not desire the intervention,but their opposition was dull and passive. Italian intervention was largely a coup d’etat prompted by a violentminority. Nonetheless Italians accepted tamely the decision of the government and went to die in thetrenches. Only in 1917, and especially in Turin, there were serious troubles, which started due to shortageof essential goods. Even the Russian revolutions and the great Caporetto defeat did not push the socialiststo modify their loyal and passive attitude. The happiness for the final victory was from the very beginningpoisoned by the sensation that France and Great Britain inclined to give scarce satisfaction to Italy, especiallyin the eastern Adriatic shore and in Turkey. So, Italy emerged from the war in a psychological statecloser to the mood of a defeated country rather than to the mood of a victorious country.

Defending sovereignty without collaboration: Vichy and the Italian Fascist threats of 1940–1942

Abstract This article asks how Vichy sought to defend French sovereignty against Italian threats across those unoccupied areas of France and its colonial empire which were covered by the Italian armistice between June 1940 and November 1942. It suggests that, while Vichy’s response to German violations of French sovereignty was limited by its policy of collaboration, no such constraints were in place when it came to Italian interventions. Despite this, however, the defence of French sovereignty against Italian threats was not a straightforward story of defiance. Opposing Italian actions in one policy domain in one territory had to be weighed against the potential repercussions in another policy domain in another territory. It also had to be calibrated with the implications for French relations with Berlin. The Italian dimension to Vichy’s actions therefore suggests that the biggest challenge in negotiations was not Vichy’s desire to defend its sovereign status so much as the lure of collaboration.

A Study on the Historical Materials of the Apollo Pythios Temple in Rhodes and the Evaluation of Potential Restoration Materials

The Temple of Apollo Pythios, built in the Hellenistic era (3rd–1st century BC), is located in the ancient Acropolis of Rhodes. It was excavated during the Italian occupation and reconstructed by the Italians in the period 1937–8. The method of the “scenographic” restoration was the “mixed structure” technique using a core of reinforced concrete in combination with new biocalcarenite stones and the integration of very few ancient architectural members. Its proximity to the sea and the corresponding salt decay phenomena, aggravated by the erroneous reconstruction methodology and materials, have further deteriorated its state of preservation. Today, the four columns, epistyle and entablature of the Italian interventions demand immediate restoration actions to ensure the monument’s sustainability. This can only be achieved through a combined study of the performance of potential restoration materials and assessment of their compatibility with the historical materials. In the present study, the characteristics of the Temple’s historical porous stones are presented along with the characteristics of five quarry stones, aiming to evaluate which quarry stone is the most appropriate for use in the upcoming restoration. Restoration mortars are designed and evaluated in respect to both the historical materials and the quarry stones, aiming to select the optimum restoration mortar, which can achieve the required level of performance and compatibility and ensure sustainability of the structure as a whole.

Does Institutional Reform Attract Skilled Entrepreneurs And Help Them Build High-Growth Ventures?

Prior research shows that entrepreneurship enhances economic development. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that it is not the number of new startups that matter for that goal, but rather their quality. This paper studies whether institutional change can facilitate the transition from quantity toward quality of entrepreneurship. We investigate the effect of the Italian policy intervention targeting Young Innovative Companies on the human capital of entrepreneurs, and how that influences entrepreneurial performance. We exploit a quasi-natural experiment setting by decomposing the impact of lowering entry and growth barriers. The findings indicate that the reform, and in particular, lowering growth barriers attracts founders endowed with the most valuable experience in the same sector and/or management functions, who are also able to capitalize on the introduced benefits the most.

Cardiovascular prevention in 50-year-old adults: an Italian intervention study.

Cardio50 is a project of active risk identification and cardiovascular prevention implemented in an Italian cohort of healthy people aged 50. A total of 3127 individuals were invited for a screening visit with lifestyle interview and registration of BMI, blood pressure (BP), glucose, cholesterol and classified into groups: A (normal), B (abnormal lifestyle, normal parameters), C (at least one abnormal parameter). People in group C were offered a free blood test and a specialistic medical visit to investigate the suspect of hypertension, dyslipidemia or dysglycemia. Those in groups B and C were scheduled for a follow-up visit after 4-6 months and finally readdressed to the general practitioner. A total of 2325 invited individuals attended the screening visit: 18% were classified in group A, 32% in B, 42% in C, 8% met exclusion criteria and were not classifiable. In group C, 86% attended to the cardiologist visit, 76% had dyslipidemia, 35% hypertension, 1% diabetes, 14% impaired fasting glycemia, 19% obesity, 21% metabolic syndrome; 21% were smokers, 11% at risk of alcoholism. At follow-up, we appreciated a decrease in BP in group C individuals. After lifestyle intervention, physical activity increased, whereas metabolic syndrome, impaired fasting glucose and risky drinking decreased. The current project is coherent with modern strategies based on multifactorial actions. After the intervention, we observed an early reduction in BP and some improvements in lifestyle. This simple and low-technology program allowed us to detect and treat large numbers of individuals at high risk for cardiovascular events.

Unaccompanied migrant minors: A comparison of new Italian interventions models

The arrival of unaccompanied migrant minors in Italy continues to increase. This phenomenon is complex with regard to both the quantity of minors to care for and the fragility, emotional stress and vulnerability of these children. Most of these minors are placed in residential care communities, which represent the classical model of intervention for Italian out-of-home children, but new projects are being developed to create new intervention models in order to improve the care of unaccompanied migrant minors. The present research aimed to describe and compare three new second-level intervention models in Italy. This work used a case study method through secondary data and individual interviews conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire with key informants (projects representatives, social workers, educators, volunteer guardians, and foster mothers). This article contributes to the growth of the literature, and it can provide interesting suggestions for new intervention models regarding the care of unaccompanied migrant minors.

A fascist warfare? Italian fascism and war experience in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39)

Initiated as an armament, strategic and diplomatic assistance, the fascist intervention in the Spanish Civil War soon made Italy a belligerent country in the conflict. Once the initial coup d’état plan had failed, the Corpo Truppe Volontarie (CTV) was created to help Franco, and also as a tool to build fascist Spain and, indeed, fascist Europe. This paper examines a crucial part of the Italian intervention in Spain, far from irrelevance or trivialization: a multi-faced combat and war experience.

On fascistization: Mussolini’s political project for Franco’s Spain, 1937–1939

‘Single party, single militia, single worker’s union, on these three pillars the great Spain of tomorrow will be built’, wrote Mussolini to Franco in August 1937, only four months after the new single party, Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS, was created. From the Duce’s point of view, all the political tools developed to achieve a brilliant present and a greater future were the result of Italian intervention in the Spanish Civil War. The political implementation of fascism, the single party, corporativism, propaganda and economic modernization were considered to have been derived from Italy’s military and diplomatic involvement in Spain. But, surprisingly, that political presence has largely been undervalued by historians examining the political construction and nature of Franco’s Spain. This article re-evaluates the importance, and limits, of Mussolini’s political project in Spain: fascistization.

Putting Words to the Experience: An Italian Group Intervention for Children of Separated Parents

ABSTRACTThis article presents an Italian group intervention for children of separated parents and describes preliminary findings about its efficacy. After briefly discussing the state of art for interventions of children of separated parents, the core characteristics of the group intervention are explained and each meeting is described. Then, pre–post research is presented to provide empirical support for this approach. Results reported that participation in the group strengthens the social and interpersonal self-concept dimension in the majority of children. Results are discussed considering both empirical and clinical implications.

"Vulnerable italy": between academic debate and a moltitude of social and political actors

The article is an introduction to a special issue of Sociologia Urbana e Rurale whose aim is to present a significant overview of Italian sociology of disaster. In order to better frame the contents of the issue, the article starts with a short reconstruction of the sociological reflection on the topic, putting it in relation to the changes that took place in Italian intervention strategies in the event of a calamity. Eventually the article highlights how a territorial approach could stress both the specific character of each context affected by catastrophes and the peculiar composition of the different forms of capital on it. In doing so, the latest seismic events that it central Italy in 2016 are considered in the analysis.

On the Failed Italian Intervention in Transcaucasia in 1919

On the Failed Italian Intervention in Transcaucasia in 1919

Giuseppe Antonio Borgese and Italian propaganda abroad

After the outbreak of war, public and private institutions in Italy embarked on various propaganda projects without coordination. It was not until Vittorio Emanuele Orlando became prime minister (from 30 October 1917 to 23 June 1919) that the first serious efforts were made to organize propaganda abroad. G. A. Borgese, a contributor to the Corriere della Sera, took an active role in the defense of Italian intervention in the war and was assigned various missions abroad, commissioned by the editor of the newspaper and, after this first experience, by the army and naval authorities, and by Orlando himself. His unpublished report Dello spirito pubblico in Francia, written at the end of his mission to Paris in March and April 1917, describes Italian propaganda efforts in France and French public opinion on Italy and the Italians, making it an important text that reveals both the problematic relations between Italy and France and the mistakes and shortcomings of Italian propaganda.

Il passato è la chiave del presente e del futuro: il progetto GEOITALIANI della Società Geologica Italiana

At war with the eagles represents the first national event organized by the History of Geosciences Section, established in 2012 by the Italian Geological Society in order to recover and endorse the national geological culture. A century after the Italian intervention in the First World War, the meeting focuses on the role of geologists and cartographers on the alpine fronts, before, during and after hostilities. This short note briefly describes the history and purposes of the Geoitaliani project that aims to revitalize the importance of geology in the past as a basis for the future development of our Nation and the human journey on Planet Earth.

L’Istituto Geologico dell’Università di Padova: Giorgio Dal Piaz, Giovanni Battista Trener, Antonio De Toni

Original documents on the interventional activity of Giorgio Dal Piaz and Giovanni Battista Trener, brother-in-low of Cesare Battisti, before and at the end of the First World War are briefly reported. In 1897, Dal Piaz graduated from the University of Padova in Natural Sciences with Omboni (who wanted him to be his assistant), later taught there (1902) and, lastly, was Omboni's successor (1909) to the chair of geology. Formerly graduated from the Vienna University, in november 1914 Trener was employed in Venice at the Hydrographic section of the Magistrato alle Acque, directed by Dal Piaz. Among their numerous activities supporting the Italian intervention, the Comitato Pro Patria, the Patronato degli Irredenti and the University Battalion can be mentioned. Lastly, Dal Piaz and Trener enlisted in the army as volunteers at the war front, where Antonio De Toni, assistant of Dal Piaz at the geological cabinet of Padua, heroically lost is life.

Multidimensional Threats and Military Engagement: The Case of the Italian Intervention in Libya

The military operation in Libya (2011) is a paradigmatic case regarding the growing interaction of new security challenges: regional instability, transnational organized crime and illegal immigration. The main aim of the paper is to answer the question: Why has Italy employed a specifically military instrument to tackle transnational and non-military threats? Through process tracing the research looks at the political debate over the decision-making process in the case of the Italian military engagement in Libya, emphasizing the role played by the strategic culture, international norms and domestic dynamics.