Italian Section Research Articles

Unveiled Pulsating Nature of IX Delphinus

IX Del is a variable star that was classified as uncertain E/SD at the Variable Star Index. The SSV-UAI-GRAV (Unione Astrofili Italiani, Variable Star Section) suggested a campaign to observe the star in order to understand its true nature. The Štefánik and Ďáblice observatories in Prague also collaborated in the observing campaign of the Italian section. From 2024 August to 2024 September, 10 observing sessions were obtained with terrestrial telescopes and V-band CCDs. From the analysis of the data thus obtained, combined with the Zwicky Transient Facility data, the star IX Del has been reclassified as an RRab-type variable with a pulsation period of 0.540914 day and a range of 1.36 mag g. The Blazhko effect from the result of this work is evident.

Cardiovascular Risk Factors Predicting Cardiovascular and Cancer Deaths in a Middle-Aged Population Followed-Up for 61 Years until Extinction.

To study the relationships of cardiovascular risk factors with cancer and cardiovascular mortality in a cohort of middle-aged men followed-up for 61 years. A rural cohort of 1611 cancer- and cardiovascular disease-free men aged 40-59 years was examined in 1960 within the Italian Section of the Seven Countries Study, and 28 risk factors measured at baseline were used to predict cancer (n = 459) and cardiovascular deaths (n = 678) that occurred during 61 years of follow-up until the extinction of the cohort with Cox proportional hazard models. A model with 28 risk factors and cancer deaths as the end-point produced eight statistically significant coefficients for age, smoking habits, mother early death, corneal arcus, xanthelasma and diabetes directly related to events, and arm circumference and healthy diet inversely related. In the corresponding models for major cardiovascular diseases and their subgroups, only the coefficients of age and smoking habits were significant among those found for cancer deaths, to which healthy diet can be added if considering coronary heart disease alone. Following a competing risks analysis by the Fine-Gray method, risk factors significantly common to both conditions were only age, smoking, and xanthelasma. A sizeable number of traditional cardiovascular risk factors were not predictors of cancer death in a middle-aged male cohort followed-up until extinction.

Time Changes of Survival and Cardiovascular Determinants in a Cohort of Middle-Aged Men Followed Up for 61 Years until Extinction.

To study possible determinants of longevity in a cohort of middle-aged men followed for 61 years until extinction using measurements taken at baseline and at years 31 or 61 of follow-up. In 1960, two rural cohorts including a total of 1712 men aged 40-59 years were enrolled within the Italian section of the Seven Countries Study of Cardiovascular Diseases, and measurements related to mainly cardiovascular risk factors, lifestyle behaviors, and chronic diseases were taken at year 0 and year 31 of follow-up (when only 390 could be examined). Multiple linear regression models were computed to relate personal characteristics with the length of survival in both dead men and survivors. Baseline cardiovascular risk factors, smoking and dietary habits, and chronic diseases (taken at year 0 with men aged 40-59 years) were significant predictors of the length of survival both from year 0 to year 31 and from year 0 to year 61, but only chronic diseases were independent predictors for the period of 31 to 61 years. Significant predictors of survival using measurements taken at year 31 (age range 71 to 90 years) were only smoking and dietary habits and chronic diseases. During a lifetime of follow-up, the personal characteristics with continuous predictive power of survival were only lifestyle behaviors and major chronic diseases.

Impact of gender inequality on the educational and career development of young epileptologists in Italy: A survey of the Young Epilepsy Section – Italian chapter

ObjectiveThe Young Epilepsy Section-Italian chapter (YES-I) is the Italian section of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE)-YES. It was founded in 2019 with the aim of increasing the involvement of young epileptologists within scientific associations and facilitating their educational training. The Education and Career Task Force designed a survey on the impact of gender inequality on the educational and professional growth of young epileptologists. MethodsThe survey was proposed via QR code during the 43rd National Congress of the Italian League Against Epilepsy (Padua, 8–10 June 2022), and subsequently distributed via email until 7th September 2022. ResultsOf the respondents, 73.6% were female. Of note, 51% of the entire sample answered that they found “no impact” of gender on educational activities (64.3% male against 46.1% female). Only 10% of women stated they have seen very much gender-related inequality in their education or career. However, the majority of our cohort (66%) thought that gender had a negative impact on progression within a scientific society, as well as in female leadership roles in clinical practice (67.9%). Furthermore female medical staff received little work recognition (56.6%). Lastly, 83% of responders did not have children, and only 37.7% declared their colleagues to be empathic in relation to absences for family emergencies. ConclusionsLack of awareness of the gender inequality issue might explain inconsistencies in the findings of our survey. Despite the remarkable progress of women rights over the last century, our survey suggests that disparities in academic and decision-making roles exist also in the epileptology field.

Charles Godfrey Leland and His Magical Tales

Charles Godfrey Leland and His Magical Tales

The Green is the New Red? A Libertarian Challenge: The Radicals and the Friends of the Earth Italy, 1976–1983

This paper focuses on Italian libertarian and anti-authoritarian environmentalism, embodied at the political level by the Radical Party and by a small organization linked to it, the Amici della Terra, the Italian section of Friends of the Earth. It aims at highlighting their role within the environmentalist galaxy of associations, movements and committees and at studying their political strategy, the peculiarities of their cultural and political contribution to the Green movement, but also their clashes with the other components. The paper analyses the Radical Party and Amici della Terra's support for anti-nuclear mobilizations in the late 1970s, especially against the construction of a nuclear plant in Montalto di Castro; how they provided a political outlet for many animal-rights movements and contributed to bringing conservationist associations closer to politics; and how they tried to build international links with other Green parties and associations. The paper highlights some political and ideological clashes between Radical environmentalism and the so-called ‘Red ecology’ around the referendum against nuclear power plants, the anti-hunting referendum and the mobilization for peace and the Amici della Terra's proposal to create local Green Lists. Thus it aims at adding a political interpretation to the cultural one – suggested by scholars – of the delay in the development of a Green party in Italy compared to other Western European countries.

Public opinion on vaccines: the role of the scientific community in Italy

Abstract Background After rising for years, vaccination rates in Italy fell until 2015 because of unfounded safety concerns, abetted by some government and court actions. Public education and a 2017 law on mandatory vaccination have boosted rates since then. So far only a few papers have examined the correlation between beliefs and attitudes towards vaccines and the level of trust in the scientific community regarding vaccinations in the general population. Methods Data were extracted from the Italian section of the last two editions of the European Social Survey (ESS), the first carried out between September and November 2017, the latter between December 2018 and March 2019. A descriptive analysis was conducted using survey data. In the two editions respectively 2,626 and 2,745 persons were interviewed. The main outcomes assessed was comparing the two surveys, so as to highlight the key changes in public opinion on vaccines. Results In the 2017 edition, 19% of the respondents believed in the harmfulness of vaccines, out of them 29% did not even have trust in the scientific community while those confident in the safety of vaccines were 50%. In the 2019 survey, the proportion of those who believed vaccines to be harmful fell to 15%, the undecided rose to 15%, those opposed to the idea that vaccines are harmful became 63%, not responding people were 8%. Correspondingly, trust in the scientific community about vaccines has increased from 57% in the first survey to 70% in the last one. Conclusions The scientific community and research bodies in the last years, in support of the Ministry of Health, have made a huge effort in the public debate on vaccines. This might play a role in increasing the public confidence in the safety of vaccines and the adherence to vaccination campaigns, changing the climate with regard to vaccination in general. Key messages Italians changed their opinions on vaccines between two ESS surveys. The scientific community had a relevant role in the public debate on vaccines.

Vaccine Hesitancy and Trust in the Scientific Community in Italy: Comparative Analysis from Two Recent Surveys.

Vaccination rates in Italy fell until 2015 because of unfounded safety concerns. Public education and a 2017 law on mandatory vaccination have boosted rates since then. The aim of our study is to explore how trust in the scientific community and attitudes towards vaccines have changed in the period of 2017–2019 in Italy. Data were extracted from the Italian section of the 2017 and 2019 editions of the European Social Survey (ESS). We compared the two surveys highlighting changes in public opinion on vaccines. A descriptive analysis of the socio-cultural variables according to the answers provided to key questions on the harmfulness of vaccines was conducted. Differences between percentages were tested by using the χ2 test. The association between the opinion about the harmfulness of vaccines and trust in the scientific community was analyzed through a logistic regression model. Compared to ESS8, ESS9 showed an increase in the percentage of respondents disagreeing with the harmfulness of vaccines. Trust in the scientific community raised in the period from 2017 to 2019 (59% vs. 69.6%). Higher education was significantly associated with disagreement regarding the harmfulness of vaccines (odds ratio (OR) = 2.41; 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 1.75–3.31), the strongest predictor was trust in the scientific community (OR = 10.47; 95% CI 7.55–14.52). In Italy, trust in the scientific community and in vaccinations has grown significantly in recent years, indicating a paradigm shift in public opinion compared to the past. Central actions and effective public communication strategies might reduce vaccine hesitancy and could be essential to garner public trust.

Maxwell foundation newsletter available: Introduction to the Italian special section: The URSI Italian national meeting 2020

Maxwell foundation newsletter available: Introduction to the Italian special section: The URSI Italian national meeting 2020

Simonetta Bernardi (1940–2021)

Simonetta Bernardi celebrated her 81st birthday on 23 January 2021. Unfortunately, she passed away a month later on 13 February. She was a member of the ICHRPI Italian Section since 1997, and she a...

Caries severity and socioeconomic inequalities in a nationwide setting: data from the Italian National pathfinder in 12-years children

This study presents the result of the second National pathfinder conducted in Italy on children’s oral health, reporting the prevalence and severity of caries in 12-year old children and describing the caries figure related to the socioeconomic inequalities, both at individual level and macroeconomic level. The two-digit codes related to ICDAS (International Caries Detection and Assessment System) for each tooth and the gingival bleeding score were recorded at school on 7,064 children (48.97% males and 51.03% females). The Gross National Product (GNP) per capita, the Gini Index and Unemployment rate in each Italian section, parents’ educational levels, working status, smoking habit and their ethnic background were recorded. Zero-inflated-negative-binomial (ZINB) models were run, using caries-free teeth, teeth with enamel lesions, cavitated lesions and restorations as functions of socioeconomic explanatory variables, to evaluate the effects of justifiable economic factors of geographical distribution. The mean number of enamel lesions, cavitated lesions and filled per teeth were statistically significant (p < 0.01) dissimilar among the Italian section. GNP per capita, Gini Index and Unemployment rate were significantly correlated to ICDAS scores and filled teeth. Important differences in ICDAS score values remain among children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Efforts should be made to improve awareness and knowledge regarding oral health practice and to implement preventive programs and access to dental services in Southern Italy where the disease is still unresolved.

Beliefs towards vaccination and trust in the scientific community in Italy

Abstract Background In 2017 the Italian government introduced compulsory vaccination for children aged 0-16 for ten diseases, in response to an alarmingly decrease in coverage and measles outbreak. A hot social debate arose in the wake of this law, questioning the trust both in the scientific community regarding vaccines and in the safety of vaccines. No Italian study has prior studied these topics combined. We therefore investigated the socio-cultural profile of Italians regarding beliefs towards vaccination and trust in the scientific community. Methods Data were extracted from the Italian section of the 2017 European Social Survey (ESS), conducted by the Italian National Institute for Public Policy Analysis. Main outcomes were the opinion about harmfulness of vaccines and the trust in the scientific community. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed to examine the socio-cultural profile of respondents on the topic. Results Among the 2,626 subjects interviewed, 19% believed that vaccines are harmful and 10% had no trust in the scientific community in regards to vaccines. Respondents who thought that vaccines are harmful, compared to respondents disagreeing, were characterized by less often having an education of 13 years or more (23% vs 29%), less often using a computer every day (44% vs 54%), less often participating in congresses (9% vs 17%), more often having a right wing political orientation (38% vs 26%). Out of the respondents who believed in the harmfulness of vaccines, 29% neither had trust in the scientific community. PCA suggested that this group (Anti-vax/science sceptic) was characterised by low participation in political and cultural life, being male, older of age and a right wing political orientation. Conclusions This study paints a picture of the opinions of Italians on vaccines. Respondents' profiles may be useful for policymakers to design targeted vaccination campaigns and to intervene more efficaciously in public debates. Key messages The share of Italian people who believe in harmfulness of vaccines is high, almost one in five. This is of great concern for the success of vaccination campaigns. Scientific community has a key role in the public debate on vaccines, considering the large consensus received on this issue.

Macronutrient composition of the diet and long-term changes in weight and waist circumference in the EPIC–Italy cohort

Background and aimsThe overall macronutrient composition of diet, rather than just calorie intake, may influence long-term changes of anthropometry. We investigated relationships between dietary macronutrient composition and long-term changes in weight and waist circumference in participants of the EPIC–Italy – the Italian section of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition – study. Methods and resultsA total of 32,119 participants provided anthropometric measures at recruitment and 12 years later (mean). Diet at recruitment was assessed using validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires. Weight and waist changes associated with replacing 10% of energy from one macronutrient with 10% of energy from another macronutrient were assessed by multivariable linear regression.Increased energy from total protein at the expense of any other macronutrient was significantly associated with increased weight and waist circumference. Increased starch at the expense of sugar and total protein was associated with significantly decreased weight and waist circumference; when starch replaced total fat, weight significantly decreased. Increased sugar at the expense of starch and total fat was significantly associated with increased weight and waist circumference; but increase at the expense of total protein was significantly associated with decreased weight and waist circumference. ConclusionOur results suggest that increasing protein at the expense of fat or carbohydrates, and reducing starch by increasing other macronutrients, might be associated with increased weight and waist gain.

Beliefs towards vaccination and trust in the scientific community in Italy

BackgroundIn 2017 the Italian government introduced compulsory vaccination for Italian school children for ten diseases, in response to an alarmingly decrease in coverage and measles outbreak. A hot social debate arose around the issue of the law. Studies on the opinion of Italians on this topic are rare, so we investigated the socio-cultural profile of Italians about beliefs towards vaccination. MethodsData were extracted from the Italian section of the European Social Survey (ESS), conducted by the Italian National Institute for Public Policies Analysis during 2017. The main outcome assessed was the opinion about the supposed harmfulness of vaccines. We analysed the association between the outcome and a selected group of socio-cultural characteristics, with a specific interest in examining the interaction between our main outcome and the perceived trust in the scientific community in regards to vaccines. A principal component analysis was then performed for determining the socio-cultural profile of respondents. ResultsAmong the 2,626 subjects interviewed face to face, 19% believed that vaccines were harmful and 10% did not have trust in the scientific community in regards to vaccines. Out of the respondents who believed in the harmfulness of vaccines, 29% neither had trust in the scientific community. Principal Component Analysis suggested that this group (Anti-vax/science sceptic) was characterised by low participation in political and cultural life, being male, older of age and politically oriented towards the right. People agreeing about harmfulness of vaccines are mostly males, have a lower education level, poor attendance in political and cultural life and are politically oriented to the right. ConclusionsThe ESS survey is unique in its capacity to deal with emerging themes of the social debates. Results paint a picture of the opinions of Italians on vaccines. This profile may be useful for policymakers to design targeted vaccination campaigns and to intervene more efficaciously in the public debate.

Alcohol, smoking and rectal cancer risk in a Mediterranean cohort of adults: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Italy cohort.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most diagnosed malignant cancers worldwide. Rectal cancers (Rcs) represent one-third of all CRCs. Cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking are two underestimated risk factors for RC. We aimed to evaluate the role of alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking in modulating RC risk and to estimate the attributable fraction in a Mediterranean population. In the Italian section of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, 45,553 healthy adults (31,252 women) were recruited and provided information about lifestyle and dietary habits. During 14.0 years of median follow-up, 154 incident RC cases were identified. In multivariate models, a increase in RC risk emerged among subjects drinking more than 3 drinks/day, overall (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.74; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-2.80), and in females (HR= 2.80; 95% CI 1.23-6.35), compared with drinkers of less than 1 drink/day. A increase in risk also emerged for current- compared with never-smokers, overall (HR = 1.57; 95% CI 1.06-2.35; P for trend 0.03) and among males (HR = 2.04; 95% CI 1.02-4.07; P for trend 0.045). Overall, 9% (95% CI 4-14%) of RC cases were attributable to drinking more than 3 drinks/day and 12% (95% CI 3-19%) were attributable to current smoke and 20% (95% CI 11-27%) of RC cases were attributable to the independent effects of these two exposures. Our study supports a strategy to avoid a relevant proportion of rectal cancer cases through a combined reduction of alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking.

The Italian Section of the Comintern, Stalin and “the Russian Question”

The Italian Section of the Comintern, Stalin and “the Russian Question”

How the Seven Countries Study contributed to the launch and development of cardiovascular epidemiology in Italy. A historical perspective

The Italian research group of the Seven Countries Study of Cardiovascular Diseases (SCS), through the independent use of the national cohorts and data, had the lucky opportunity, starting in the early 1960, to launch the Italian research in epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). In this way, the Italian Section of that international study became the first investigation with baseline measurements in various cohorts, subsequent re-examinations, systematic search for morbid events, and follow-up for mortality up to 50 years.A large number of scientific aspects has been tackled including estimates of morbidity and mortality rates, the association of risk factors with cardiovascular events and total mortality, the role of risk factor changes, the use of multivariable models, the role of lifestyle behavior, the determinants of all-cause mortality including risk factors rarely measured in other studies, the identification of characteristics of a condition called Heart Disease of Uncertain Etiology (HDUE), the production of predictive tools for practical use and several other issues. All this has been enhanced by the availability of extremely long follow-up data rarely found in other studies.Field work organization, measurement techniques, diagnostic criteria, data handling and computing had the limitations and difficulties typical of those times, the mid of last century, when CVD epidemiology was at its beginning.All this represented anyhow the start of CVD epidemiology research in the country and was the stimulus to the start of other studies and a valuable collaboration with some of them.

Introduction to the Italian section for young neurologists

Introduction to the Italian section for young neurologists

Evaluation of 99th percentile and reference change values of a high-sensitivity cTnI method: A multicenter study

BackgroundThe Italian Society of Clinical Biochemistry (SIBioC) and the Italian Section of the European Ligand Assay Society (ELAS) have recently promoted a multicenter study (Italian hs-cTnI Study) with the aim to accurately evaluate analytical performances and reference values of the most popular cTnI methods commercially available in Italy. The aim of this article is to report the results of the Italian hs-cTnI Study concerning the evaluation of the 99th percentile URL and reference change (RCV) values around the 99th URL of the Access cTnI method. Materials and methodsHeparinized plasma samples were collected from 1306 healthy adult volunteers by 8 Italian clinical centers. Every center collected from 50 to 150 plasma samples from healthy adult subjects. All volunteers denied the presence of chronic or acute diseases and had normal values of routine laboratory tests (including creatinine, electrolytes, glucose and blood counts). An older cohort of 457 adult subjects (mean age 63.0 years; SD 8.1 years, minimum 47 years, maximum 86 years) underwent also ECG and cardiac imaging analysis in order to exclude the presence of asymptomatic cardiac disease. Results and conclusionsThe results of the present study confirm that the Access hsTnI method using the DxI platform satisfies the two criteria required by international guidelines for high-sensitivity methods for cTn assay. Furthermore, the results of this study confirm that the calculation of the 99th percentile URL values are greatly affected not only by age and sex of the reference population, but also by the statistical approach used for calculation of cTnI distribution parameters.

Transitions in energy history

The paper offers a report of the international conference “Transitions in energy history—State of the art and new perspectives”, held in Milan in the winter of 2017 and organised by the Department of documentary, linguistic, philological and geographical sciences of the Sapienza University of Rome, the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, the Fondation EDF, Edison-EDF Group and the Italian section of the World Energy Council. The first part of the paper introduces the overall concept and architecture of the event, exemplifies the different kind of contributions presented at the conference and offers a brief review of the variety of contents and flavours arising from the focus on the category “transition”. The second part of the paper focusses instead on some fundamental reflections, also in the light of related conferences promoted by other museums in the international arena.