Italian Ones Research Articles

The link between right-wing political radicalism and geopolitical action. The Yugoslav wars and the action of the opposing factions of the European extreme right

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the reaction of the European extreme right, with reference to the French and Italian ones, to the Yugoslav wars. The focus is on both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary groups and movements and their reaction, especially to the Serbo-Croatian conflict. Detailed analyses are reserved for both the majority of the movements that took pro-Croatian positions and the pro-Serbian minority. The latest case of the pro-Serbs is politically interesting because it intersects with the birth of the neo-Eurasian movement in the vicinity of the Soviet collapse. Different types of political and military support to the parties to the conflict are examined, and particular attention is paid to the phenomenon of foreign fighters.

Anatolia: A Hotspot of Avian Genetic Diversity in the Western Palaearctic

Located at the crossroads of two continents and at the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Basin, Anatolia was one of the most important Pleistocene glacial refugia in the Western Palaearctic. As part of the Irano-Anatolian, Caucasus and Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspots, this region is also home to a rich avian community including nearly 400 breeding species. Nevertheless, research addressing the genetic structure and diversity of local bird populations is limited, and information on glacial refugia in this region is still scant, especially when compared to other large Mediterranean peninsulas, namely the Balkan, Italian and Iberian ones. In this study, we contribute to filling this gap by addressing the biogeographic pattern of four common resident songbirds—the Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), the great tit (Parus major), the Eurasian chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) and the Eurasian blackbird (Turdus merula)—and one endemic species—the Krüper’s nuthatch (Sitta krueperi)—by amplifying two mitochondrial DNA genes in individuals from Anatolia (n = 329) and comparing their sequences to those of conspecifics from the rest of their distribution range across the western Palaearctic (n = 357) deposited in public databases. The overall genetic structure of these species is consistent with a scenario of isolation for multiple populations in different refugia across Anatolia and subsequent secondary contact in the wake of ice retreat, which makes this region a hotspot of genetic diversity for both widespread and endemic avian species.

A survey on the management practices of graves’ disease by Egyptian physicians and a comparison to similar reports from USA, Italy, China, and Brazil

BackgroundGraves’ disease is the commonest cause of hyperthyroidism in iodine replete areas. Following universal salt iodization, most Egyptians are considered iodine sufficient. The present study aims to report a survey of real-life practices in the management of graves’ disease among Egyptian physicians and compare them to other similar reports.MethodsAn online survey was sent to members and affiliates of Alexandria thyroid association. Egyptian physicians were surveyed about initial diagnostics workup, management of an index case of uncomplicated graves’ disease not desiring pregnancy. Two modified scenarios were proposed to the index case to survey the impact on treatment preferences. Anonymous responses were collected, analyzed, presented, and compared to other published similar reports.ResultsSixty-eight participated out of 120 invited physicians (56.67%). Initial workup included TSH receptor antibodies 46/68 (67. 6%), thyroid ultrasound 45/68 (66.2%), and thyroid scintigraphy 25/68 (36.8%). Treatment preferences in the index case were antithyroid drugs (ATD’s) 52/68 (76.5%), radioiodine 12/68 (17.5%), and surgery 4/68 (6%). Compared to other reports, treatment preferences were almost identical to Italian ones, ATD’s (77.1%), radioiodine (16.2%), and surgery (4.5%). If the patient is complicated with graves’ orbitopathy, treatment preferences would change into ATD’s 37/67 (55%), radioiodine 1/67 (2%), radioiodine with corticosteroids 14/67 (21%), and surgery 15/67 (22%). If the patient is desiring pregnancy, treatment preferences would be ATD’s 32/68 (47%), radioiodine 5/68 (7.4%), and surgery 31/68 (45.6%).ConclusionA high participation rate was observed. Similar to other reports, medical treatment is the preferred modality of treatment in graves’ disease and surgery is the least utilized modality. Similar treatment preferences to Italians were observed in the index case.

SARS-CoV-2 incidence and hospitalisation in South Tyrol (Italy): a population-based ecological study

Abstract Background Literature associating SARS-CoV-2 spread to environmental variables such as altitude, tourism, vaccination adherence and demographics, is inconclusive and contrasting. This study aimed at studying these relationships during the first unrestricted winter in South Tyrol, a multicultural Italian alpine province. Methods An ecological study was performed, based on the 20 districts of the area. Data about incidence and hospitalization between November ’21 and February ’22 was collected and associated to geographical, demographic and health-related characteristics via bivariate analyses. Results Incidence (range: 15% - 22%) and hospitalization (range: overall = 0.09% - 0.26%/ intensive care unit (ICU) = 0 - 0.06%) varied widely among districts. Incidence showed positive correlations with average altitude (Rho=0.62, p < 0.001), tourist amount (0.54, p < 0.04) and average family size (0.66, p < 0.005); whereas negative ones with vaccination coverage (-0.62, p < 0.04) and population density (-0.44, p < 0.05). Similar trends were observed for ICU admissions. Incidence was significantly higher in Ladin speaking districts and lower in Italian ones, while ordinary wards admission appeared lowest in Ladin districts and higher in the Italian ones, as well as close to main cities and hospitals. Conclusions Living in urban districts, geographically and linguistically closer to the Health Authorities, may have played a protective role against infection and severe disease, through an increased adherence to public health preventive measures. The concomitant higher rate of admissions might be due to the easier access to the structures. By contrast, infection spread was higher in rural and sparsely populated districts, associated with greater winter tourism and family sizes, but also characterized by lower herd immunity and institutional closeness. More attention should be paid to communities with special needs (geographical and cultural) to ensure equitable means for future pandemics. Key messages • Living in urban districts may protect against infection spread through increased adherence to public health preventive measures, and facilitate hospitalisations due to easier access to the structures. • More attention should be paid to communities geographically and culturally distant from Public Health Institutions to ensure equitable means for future pandemics.

Two “many”-Words in Italian? On Molto-Tanto and Cross-linguistic Differences in Quantification

This article investigates the variability in the meaning of vague quantifiers across different languages, focusing on Italian’s m(any)-words molto and tanto. The aim was to replicate a previous analysis conducted on Slovenian m-words – precej and veliko – examining whether the Italian ones exhibit a similar pragmatic strengthening effect. Using a sentence-picture verification task, we tested 88 Italian monolingual participants on their evaluation of sentences of the form “Quantifier X are Y”. Our results showed that, unlike Slovenian speakers, Italian speakers do not exhibit a difference in the evaluation of molto and tanto, suggesting that the two words have the same numerical bound and are interchangeable as amount modifiers. Our analysis suggests that there are underlying semantic distinctions between molto and tanto that require further investigation. These findings contribute to our understanding of the variability in the use of quantifiers across languages and highlight the importance of examining subtle differences in meaning when studying vague quantifiers.

WORLD HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM: KRZYSZTOFPOMIAN’S STORY OF THE WORLD OF PEOPLEAND OBJECTS (1)

In spring 2023, the Gdansk publishers: słowo/obraz terytoria released the first volume of Krzysztof Pomian’sstudy Muzeum. Historia światowa [World History of theMuseum]. It launches the Polish edition of the monumentalthree-volume work published by Éditions Gallimard in Pariswhich is the first study of the universal history of the museum.This is more than a book, it’s a monument! (Plus qu’un livre,un monument!) is what Fabien Simode wrote in the l’OEilmonthly (March 2021). At present rarely are such historicallybroad studies released, possibly because of authors’ fear ofbeing potentially accused of postmodernist meta-narrative.In this case, the work is a comprehensive synthesis in view ofthe entailed chronology, geography, and thematic range. Thediscussed volume Od skarbca do muzeum [From a TreasureChamber to the Museum] recently published for Polish readerstackles the process of European collectorship crystalizingand first museums being its consequence, mainly Italian andseveral northern ones, from the Capitoline Museum in Rome(1471) up to London’s British Museum (1753). Subsequentvolumes are already being prepared. Titled L’ancrage européen,1789–1850, the second one is dedicated to the historyof the museum consolidating into a permanent and significantelement of European culture, close to the institution weknow today: started by the revolutionary Louvre (1793), thishistory is created by the vast part of the major museums oftoday’s Western Europe. Finally, volume three A la conquêtedu monde, 1850–2020 is the most extensive of them all bothchronologically and territorially, as well as in view of the numberof museums and their activity discussed. Author’s considerationsencompass museums’ expansion to Eastern Europeincluding Russia, and then eventually to the rest of the world:Asia, Africa, both Americas, mainly the territories connectedwith the West through colonial bonds; the United States, beingthe area where today’s dominating world centres havebeen formed, is analysed separately. At that point the book’stitle: world history, gains its full relevance, and relates both tothe interwar period in the democratic and totalitarian world,WW II, and to the long contemporary era.

A Political Consideration on the Japan-Italy TreatyRevision Relations During the Inoue Kaoru Foreign Affairs Era (1879-1887) Centering on Japanese and Italian Primary Sources

In the early Meiji Era, the revision of the so-called “Unequal Treaties” was an issue of vital importance to the Japanese government. In particular, since the early 1880s Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru (1836-1915), unlike his predecessor Terashima Munenori (1832-1893), who had given priority to the acquisition of tariff autonomy, sought to include in the negotiations with foreign powers also the abolition of extraterritoriality. In this context, the Kingdom of Italy found itself playing a significant role in Inoue’s foreign policy in the 1870s after the Italian diplomats in Tokyo had shown a strong interest in treaty revision aiming to obtain the right for the Italian traders to circulate freely in Japan’s inland areas in exchange for the renunciation of their extraterritorial rights. Since the Japan-Italy Treaty Revision Relations during the management of the Japanese Foreign Ministry by Inoue (1879-1887) have not received sufficient consideration by either Italian or Japanese historiographies, this research aims to examine it in detail, focusing the analysis on the strategic importance that the Kingdom of Italy had for the Japan government in the 1880s. Some still unclarified issues will be illuminated mainly by making use of Japanese primary sources and integrating them with the Italian ones.

Rumänische Suffixnamen auf -ean(u) in Deutschland

This study aims to document Romanian surnames in Germany derived with the suffix -ean(u), starting from the telephone database of Deutsche Telekom from 2005. The morphological contrast between the variants that take an article and the ones that do not shows their similar distribution on the map, specifically in southern and western Germany, in the states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hessen and North Rhine-Westphalia, in the areas of important industrial and university centres such as Munich, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Ingolstadt, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Mannheim and Frankfurt. This picture of the spread of Romanian surnames derived with the suffix -ean(u) is similar to that of the surnames ending in -escu, as well as to that of other foreign surnames, such as the Turkish, Italian, Portuguese or Greek ones, which proves the settlement of immigrants in the same highly industrialized areas of Germany. The most frequent surnames ending in -ean(u) in Germany are Muntean(u) (88+80), Ardelean(u) (65+14), Mărginean (23), Ungurean(u) (21+31), C(î|â)mpean(u) (18+11), Oltean(u) (12+22). Historically, the Romanian names derived with the suffix -ean(u) appear in the 15th century (e.g. Coman Făgărășanul 1437–1446), are derived from toponyms and indicate the place of origin of the first named. The onomastic suffix -ean(u), of Slavic origin, is present in all historical Romanian provinces, theform -ean, with no article, being much more frequent in Transylvania.

Investigating the effects of climate on thermal adaptation: A comparative field study in naturally ventilated university classrooms

In educational buildings, adaptive strategies can be adopted for the achievement of thermal comfort and reduction of energy consumption. Since climate can largely affect thermal comfort, there is a need for understanding its role in the definition of different adaptive capacities, thermal neutrality, comfort, and preference.To this end, 17 naturally ventilated university classrooms from 10 different buildings located in two sub-climates of Italy (Mediterranean climate) and France (Continental climate) were analysed. In total, 1377 questionnaires associated with environmental parameters were collected. The same educational stage (i.e. university classrooms) and operation mode (i.e. naturally ventilated during the heating period) were investigated to remove possible biases related to their influence on thermal comfort perception.Field studies show that despite French students performing less adaptive actions, their neutral temperature (TN) was 3.1 °C lower than the Italian ones (TN,ITALY = 23.6 °C and TN,FRANCE = 20.5 °C) and this difference was statistically significant.Adaptation as a function of the sub-climate was evident from the comparison with the PMV-PPD model. Neutral temperatures calculated with PMV were higher than those obtained from TSV, and the difference increased for the French colder climate.Practically, students’ adaptation to colder environments can be deployed to ensure comfort while reducing the heating demand.

Italian ghetto stories: Toward a transnational literary history

This article examines Italian ghetto stories, which are distinguished by confusions of time, continuities, tourism, reflections on collective identities, and movements in and out, in order to outline one potential literary history. In contrast to German-language and Anglophone literary ghettos, Italian ones are generally absent as a critical category from literary debates, though they appear in works by Leon Modena, Israel Zangwill, Rainer Maria Rilke, Umberto Saba, Giorgio Bassani, Elsa Morante, Caryl Phillips, and Igiaba Scego, among others. A transnational approach can bring together works that have not been considered collectively because of disciplinary formations. Italian ghetto fictions expose the disheartening continuities of prejudice and, relatedly, have generally not been considered together because of restrictive ideas about the nation as an organizing principle.

Sustainable development goals as unifying narratives in large UK firms’ Twitter discussions

To achieve sustainable development worldwide, the United Nations set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for humanity to reach by 2030. Society is involved in the challenge, with firms playing a crucial role. Thus, a key question is to what extent firms engage with the SDGs. Efforts to map firms’ contributions have mainly focused on analysing companies’ reports based on limited samples and non-real-time data. We present a novel interdisciplinary approach based on analysing big data from an online social network (Twitter) with complex network methods from statistical physics. By doing so, we provide a comprehensive and nearly real-time picture of firms’ engagement with SDGs. Results show that: (1) SDGs themes tie conversations among major UK firms together; (2) the social dimension is predominant; (3) the attention to different SDGs themes varies depending on the community and sector firms belong to; (4) stakeholder engagement is higher on posts related to global challenges compared to general ones; (5) large UK companies and stakeholders generally behave differently from Italian ones. This paper provides theoretical contributions and practical implications relevant to firms, policymakers and management education. Most importantly, it provides a novel tool and a set of keywords to monitor the influence of the private sector on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Near infrared spectroscopy and multivariate statistical analysis as rapid tools for the geographical origin assessment of Italian hazelnuts

The geographical origin assessment of Italian hazelnuts is nowadays a relevant topic, aimed at the protection of provenience certificates. Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy could be a functional candidate for preventing and fighting illegal activities related to this matrix. The present study focuses on the exploitability of the NIR technique on the ‘hazelnut chain’ (fresh, roasted and paste), against the false origin declaration frauds, mainly concerning some of the best Italian varieties (‘Nocciola Piemonte’, ‘Tonda Gentile Romana’, ‘Mortarella’). 216 spectra were recorded, for a total of n = 144 for the training set, and n = 72 for the validation set, considering fresh (n = 57), roasted (n = 107), and paste (n = 52) hazelnuts as different matrices. The training set sample selection was made according to a Design of Experiment (DoE), that considered diverse factors, such as harvesting year, storage shelf life, and presence of peel. The validation set was composed of blended samples generated by mixing Italian and non-Italian ones, and real samples bought from local markets. Multivariate Statistical Analysis was employed for data handling and elaboration, both unsupervised and supervised models, Principal Component Analysis, and Partial Least Square-Discriminant Analysis were built to simplify, observe, and classify the samples. A variables selection was performed by filtering the most important ones considering the Variable Importance in Projection (VIP) scores. The predictive ability of the technology was evaluated by applying Classification List and Confusion Matrix approaches to a prediction set, providing a fit of the observations of this set into the selected supervised model. The outcomes highlight valuable discrimination between authentic samples (related to two different harvesting year campaigns) with classification accuracy rates between 89 % and 100 %. Promising results about the application on blended and real samples were also obtained, especially as regards fresh and roasted hazelnuts, which presented classification accuracy rates of 81 % and 91 %. Therefore, this analytical technique could play a strategic role in the geographical origin assessment considering it is a rapid, direct, non-destructive, and cost-effective approach.

EFFECT OF REARING SEASON ON QUEEN AND THE REPRODUCTION OF <i>APIS MELLIFERA CARNICA</i> AND A <i>MELLIFERA LIGUSTICA</i>

Hybrids of Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera ligustica queen bees were reared to investigate their physiological and reproductive characters as well as spermatheca semen volume to determine the suitable time for queen rearing under Giza conditions in Egypt. Rearing seasons were found to affect the queens’ quality determined based on their weight/ volume of the spermatheca, and quantity and quality of stored sperms in the spermatheca. Results indicated that the Carniolian hybrid gynes were heavier than Italian hybrid ones, with greatest mating success being observed in March and April, while it was worst during June. Spermatheca was less voluminuos with less spermatozoa in Italian hybrid queen bees compared to the Carniolian hybrid ones. Thus, under Giza region conditions, t is highly recommended to rear queens during the spring months.

The Eurasian beaver range expansion reveals uneven future trends and possible conservation issues: an European assessment

The Eurasian beaver is a keystone species and landscape-capable ecosystem engineer, which went close to extinction until the 19th century. Recently, thanks to legal protection and reintroduction programs, the species has recolonized much of its past range. However, in some countries this process did not occur. Objectives. Our objective is to model the potential distribution of the Eurasian beaver for current and future conditions, on a continental scale, at river and sub-basin level. We focus on the protected areas of Italy and Portugal for possible reintroductions. Methods. The study area is Europe, with a subset focusing on Italy and Portugal. We produce species distribution models for current and future conditions using climate change scenarios and predicting changes in river flow, including topographic and human disturbance variables. We then deepen suitability-related issues within Italian and Portuguese protected areas. Results. We find that the Eurasian beaver current suitability is comparable to its known distribution, although some potentially-suitable spots occur in Italy (where there are two occurrences), while the Iberian Peninsula and the Balkan countries host scattered suitable spots. Future scenarios predict a general lowering of suitability in Central and Northern Europe. Portuguese protected areas generally host unsuitable territories, while the Italian ones have reported a tangled scenario, depending on the biogeographical sector. Conclusions. Our results may support the large-scale management of the beaver, both for countries already hosting this species and those planning a reintroduction. The framework used may be applied to other species, and for different topics, from biogeography to conservation.

Spillover effects of economic policy uncertainty on adult and youth unemployment

Abstract The paper studies the effects of foreign (the US, the UK and the Chinese) and domestic economic policy uncertainty (EPU) shocks on unemployment in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The analysis is run separately for the rates of adult and youth unemployment. Impulse responses derived from vector autoregressive models show that the magnitudes of the responses of the adult and youth segments of the labour market are quite different. Following an uncertainty shock, the youth unemployment rate increases significantly more than the adult unemployment rate. This is the case for France, Italy and Spain. The German labour market seems to be resistant to foreign (except Chinese) and domestic EPU shocks, while the remaining labour markets, foremost the Spanish and Italian ones, are susceptible to uncertainty shocks, especially to the US EPU shocks.

Genetic Characterization and Alternative Preservation Ways of Locally Adapted Sheep Breeds: Cases of Private and Public Sheep Sectors in Tunisia and Italy.

Non-commercialized sheep breeds known as local or native breeds are well adapted to their environmental constraints and constitute precious genetic resources that need prioritization for genetic diversity characterization and preservation. The aim of the present study was to assess the genetic diversity level and the related preservation decisions of very old and traditional native Mediterranean sheep breeds from Tunisia and Italy using 17 microsatellite markers. In total, 975 sheep were sampled from five Tunisian, one Center Italian, and four Venetian native breeds. Both private and publicly available farms were considered for each breed for breeding strategies' comparison purposes. The microsatellite set used was highly informative (PIC = 0.80 ± 0.08), with a total of 383 alleles. Moderate genetic differentiation was revealed between the native sheep of the two Mediterranean sides (global overall loci FST = 0.081). The genetic diversity level was higher in the case of the Tunisian native breeds compared to the Italian ones, as evidenced by higher mean allelic richness, higher expected and observed heterozygosities, and lower inbreeding levels. Priority for conservation suggestions was carried out for each private or public breed population based on the contribution of each population to the diversity of the whole data. The four Venetian breeds, already undergoing conservation, the Tunisian dairy breed, and the very ancient Maghrebian breed, would be favored for conservation. In conclusion, our results highlighted the importance of the analyzed Mediterranean native sheep breeds as valuable inherited genetic reservoirs and supported previous conservation decisions made for the threatened breeds.

Religious freedom during Covid-19 in Courts’ evaluation

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Premise - 2. Italy: the relevance of the possibility of satisfying religious feeling through the alternatives offered by computer tools - 3. Germany: the non-belonging of the public exercise of worship to the Wesensgehalt of the right to religious freedom - 4. France: the suspension of religious ceremonies as a “serious and manifestly unlawful interference” with religious freedom - 5. United States of America: the participation in religious services as the “heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty” - 6. Concluding remarks.
 ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to examine the position and the scope of the right to religious freedom in the case law of the national courts of some European and non-European countries, which are called upon to establish the legitimacy or otherwise of the balancing realized by the emergency regulation against Covid-19 between this interest and the equally important one of health. Such evaluations, essentially conducted by the judges using the principle of proportionality (as well as that of reasonableness), betray, in fact, in the phase of verification of the adequacy of the measure (so-called Verhälntismäßigkeit im engeren Sinne) the identification of the sphere of intangibility within the right, removed from further balancing. The systems taken into consideration for this purpose are the Italian, German, French and American ones, identified as significant expressions of different regimes of relations between the State and religious denominations, and, therefore, tending to a different overall attitude of the State towards religious experience.

The Current Quality of Web-Based Information on the Treatment of Bipolar Disorder: A Systematic Search.

Background: An important aspect of managing chronic disorders like bipolar disorder is to have access to relevant health information. This study investigates and compares the quality of information on the treatments of bipolar disorder that is available on English websites, as an international language, and on Italian websites, as a popular local language. Methods: A systematic review search was obtained from four search engines. We excluded unrelated materials, scientific papers, and duplicates. We analyzed popularity with PageRank; technological quality with Nibbler; readability with the Flesh Reading Ease test and Gulpease index; quality of information with the DISCERN scale, the JAMA benchmark criteria, and on the extent of adherence to the HONCode. Results: 35 English and 31 Italian websites were included. The English websites were found to have a higher level of quality information and technological quality than the Italian ones. Overall, the websites were found to be difficult to read, requiring a high level of education. Conclusions: These results can be important to inform guidelines for the improvement of health information and help users to reach a higher level of evidence on the websites. Users should find the benefits of treatment, support for shared decision-making, the sources used, the medical editor’s supervision, and the risk of postponing treatment.

Comparative Study on Clinicopathological Characteristics of Breast Cancer in Vietnam and Italy

Background: In Vietnam and Italy, breast cancer (BC) occurs in women more frequently than any other cancer. Vietnam has a substantially lower incidence of breast cancer than Italy, but a higher mortality rate. Most Vietnamese patients present to the hospital with severe tumors at the late stages of diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to compare clinicopathologic features, biomarkers, and subtypes of BC between Vietnamese women and Italian ones. Methods: The sample was collected from all Vietnamese patients undergoing surgery with the diagnosis of primary invasive breast carcinoma in Hue Central Hospital as well as Hue University Hospital in Vietnam during 1 year from April 2016 to April 2017, and from the same category of women in Sassari University Hospital, Italy during the year 2016. The study parameters in both groups consisted of age at diagnosis, tumor size, histologic grade, histologic type, axillary node status, stages of diagnosis, biomarkers (Estrogen Receptor - ER, Progesterone Receptor - PR, Ki-67 cell proliferation marker - Ki-67, Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 - HER2), and molecular subtypes of BC. Results: 323 patients were collected in total (235 from Sassari, Italy, and 88 from Thua Thien - Hue province, Vietnam). Vietnamese patients were diagnosed at a younger age than Italian patients, at just 52.5 on average, while the figure for Italian was 62. The Vietnamese BC patients also had a bigger tumor in size, higher grade, more axillary node positivity as well as a later stage of disease in comparison with Italian ones. The proportion of ER-positive was higher in the Italian group than that in Vietnam (88.1 vs 55.7%). The high Ki-67 expression prevalence was significantly higher in Vietnamese patients compared with Italian (81.8 vs 45.1%). The HER2-positive rate in Vietnam was 33%, higher than that in Italy (8.1%). Histologic grade and cell proliferation index Ki-67 were significantly correlated with HER2 positivity in both groups. Conclusions: Vietnamese patients demonstrated more aggressive tumor features and worse prognostic biomarkers than Italian patients. The prevalence of HER2 positive and high Ki-67 expression in Vietnamese patients was considerably higher than in Italian patients. The remarkable differences in clinicopathological characteristics between the two populations suggest the diversity of biological tumor, ethnicity, and environment as well as the effectiveness of the screening program.

Detection of Serum-Specific IgE by Fluoro-Enzyme Immunoassay for Diagnosing Type I Hypersensitivity Reactions to Penicillins.

Diagnosis of type I hypersensitivity reactions (IgE-mediated reactions) to penicillins is based on clinical history, skin tests (STs), and drug provocation tests (DPTs). Among in vitro complementary tests, the fluoro-enzyme immunoassay (FEIA) ImmunoCAP® (Thermo-Fisher, Waltham, MA, USA) is the most widely used commercial method for detecting drug-specific IgE (sIgE). In this study, we aimed to analyze the utility of ImmunoCAP® for detecting sIgE to penicillin G (PG) and amoxicillin (AX) in patients with confirmed penicillin allergy. The study includes 139 and 250 patients evaluated in Spain and Italy, respectively. All had experienced type I hypersensitivity reactions to penicillins confirmed by positive STs. Additionally, selective or cross-reactive reactions were confirmed by DPTs in a subgroup of patients for further analysis. Positive ImmunoCAP® results were 39.6% for PG and/or AX in Spanish subjects and 52.4% in Italian subjects. When only PG or AX sIgE where analyzed, the percentages were 15.1% and 30.4%, respectively, in Spanish patients; and 38.9% and 46% in Italian ones. The analysis of positive STs showed a statistically significant higher percentage of positive STs to PG determinants in Italian patients. False-positive results to PG (16%) were detected in selective AX patients with confirmed PG tolerance. Low and variable sensitivity values observed in a well-defined population with confirmed allergy diagnosis, as well as false-positive results to PG, suggest that ImmunoCAP® is a diagnostic tool with relevant limitations in the evaluation of subjects with type I hypersensitivity reactions to penicillins.