bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Association between benzodiazepine prescriptions and potential risk factors of adverse drug reactions among elderly and very elderly: findings from Friuli Venezia Giulia region, Italy
Authors: Castelpietra Giulio , Balestrieri Matteo , Brusaferro Silvio , Arnoldo Luca 
Published: April 2023

Background: benzodiazepines (BDZs) highly increase the risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), especially in the elderly with certain medical conditions.
Methods: point-prevalence study in December 2017; 2,456 patients ≥65 years were included from 14 regional public and private hospitals, 24 long-term chronic care facilities (LTCCFs) and 20 nursing homes (NHs). Data regarded BDZ prescriptions and comorbidities, co-prescriptions, or concurrent diseases, which could increase the risk of ADRs in BDZ users. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess associations between ADRs in BDZ users vs. non-users, as well as within users.
Results: 671 patients were prescribed BDZ, whose half were in NHs. Being prescribed 10 or more drugs was twice more common among BDZ users compared to non-users. BDZs were prescribed for long-term to 80% of patients in NHs, while proportions were halved in hospitals and LTCCFs. In the analyses within BDZ users, patients in NHs and LTCCFs were at higher risk of dementia and concurrent use of opioid analgesic and antipsychotics compared to hospitalized patients.
Conclusions: the use of BDZs in older patients is common in FVG. A great extent of comorbidities and concurrent medications at higher risk of ADRs was found. Analyses in different healthcare settings can allow to drive evidence-based interventions in order to discourage the use of BDZs and monitor the raise of ADRs.
Contraceptive methods and knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases in nursing students. Results from a survey conducted at the University of Palermo
Authors: Santangelo Omar E. , Provenzano Sandro , Alagna Enrico , Terranova Antonio , D’Anna Giuseppe , Grigis Dimple , Cedrone Fabrizio , Firenze Alberto 
Published: April 2023

Background: The main purpose of the study was to evaluatesexual habits, sexual relations and knowledge of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among the students in the nursing science course of University of Palermo, and to evaluate the use of contraceptive methods.
Methods: In April 2019, a survey was provided to students who attend daily lessons in the nursing science course of University of Palermo, that investigate primarily about sexual habits, sexual relations and knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases. A multivariable logistic regression was performed.
Results: The sample size consists of 405 students. The average age of the sample is 21.65 years, 69.63% of the interviewees are women. In relation to the question “Do you think you are sufficiently informed to be able to avoid risks of infection from sexually transmitted diseases? No”, the analysis shows that this independent variable is significantly associated with the following independent variables: female gender (aOR 3.11, 95% CI 1.01 - 9.65); “how would you define your knowledge about contraceptive methods? - Poor” (aOR 5.38, 95% CI 1.79 - 16.20); “have you ever received information on sex education and/or sexually transmitted diseases? - No” (aOR 11.59, 95% CI 2.26 - 59.42); “do you know the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination? - yes, but I’m not vaccinated” (aOR 3.09, 95% CI 1.12 - 8.51); “do you know that men can also undergo HPV vaccination? - No” (aOR 2.67, 95% CI 1.01 - 7.04).
Conclusion: Based on our findings, it is necessary to implement sexual education programs for the improvement of knowledge in terms of STIs and the promotion of health. Improving sexual health outcomes for young people is a priority for the public health.
Bayesian Analysis of Doubly Inflated Poisson Regression for Correlated Count Data: Application to DMFT Data
Authors: Chaboki B. Gholami , Baghban A. Akbarzadeh , Baghfalaki T. , Khoshnevisan M. , Meymeh M. Heydarpour 
Published: April 2023

Outcome variables in clinical studies sometimes include count data with inflation in two points (usually zero and k (k>0)). Doubly inflated models can be adopted for modeling these types of data. In statistical modeling, the association among subjects due to longitudinal or cluster study designs is considered by random effects models. In this article, we proposed a doubly inflated random effects model using the Bayesian approach for correlated count data with inflation in two values, and compared this model with Bayesian zero-inflated Poisson and Bayesian Poisson models. The parameters’ estimates by these models were obtained by Markov Chain Monte Carlo method using OpenBUGS software. Bayesian models were compared using the deviance information criterion. To this end, we utilized the total number of decayed, missed, and filled teeth of 12-year-old children and also conducted a simulation study.
Results of real data and the simulation study revealed that the proposed model is fitted better than previous models.
Register-based cumulative prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders during childhood and adolescence in Central Italy
Authors: Valenti Marco , Vagnetti Roberto , Masedu Francesco , Pino Maria Chiara , Rossi Alessandro , Scattoni Maria Luisa , Mazza Monica , EAGLE GROUP  
Published: April 2023

Background: Studies have evaluated the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), focusing on different ages during childhood and adolescence. How cumulative prevalence increases before adulthood remains unclear.
Methods: We used data from the Autism Register of the Regional Reference Centre for Autism in L’Aquila, Central Italy, to retrieve information on individuals born in 2001–2012 with any of the inclusion diagnoses of ASD (DSM criteria) for the period 2001 to 2018. Cumulative prevalence on L’Aquila district population data was calculated as percentages for three-year age strata.
Results: All prevalence data were estimated at December 31st, 2018. The overall crude prevalence was 0.95% (352 cases over 36938 population). Cumulative prevalence was 1.19% among those born in 2001-2003 (15 to 17 years of follow up), 1.15% among those born in 2004-2006 (12 to 14 years of follow up), 1.04% among those born in 2007-2009 (9 to 11 years of follow up), 0.80% among those born in 2010-2012 (6 to 8 years of follow up), and 0.57% among those born in 2013-2015 (3 to 5 years of follow up). The proportion of ASD diagnoses until the age of 5 years, compared to the group diagnosed 6 to 8 years of age, showed a significant increasing trend over calendar time (53.6% for those born in 2001-2003, to 77.0% for those born in 2010-2012).
Conclusions: Cumulative prevalence by time period provides a better understanding of ASD occurrence than a point prevalence. We did not find any difference in frequency of diagnosis comparing age strata and year of birth, suggesting that frequencies of ASD diagnosis remained roughly constant from 2001 to 2015. Results show that cumulative prevalence of autism diagnosis does not substantially change over time; instead, diagnosis of ASD is more likely at earliest ages over time, although new cases of ASD are also detected at later ages.
A Study On The Utilization and Health Services Provision by Community Clinics of Jashore, Bangladesh
Authors: Razon Arafat Hassan , Islam Md Shafiqul , Ahmad Saad , Roy Urmila , Ahmad Tanvir 
Published: April 2023

Background: As Bangladesh has gained the reputation of improving the health sectors, much health related sites still require improvements. Community clinic services (CCS) may contribute to this sector with its foremost importance. So this study was conducted to investigate the utilization and health services provision by community clinics (CCs) in rural area.
Methods: A descriptive longitudinal study was conducted among three community clinics of Jashore and a structured questionnaire was developed on which most of the questions were developed to find out the contributions of these community clinics. Here for data analysis we used SPSS version 25.0 software.
Results: Here we analyzed health service related data from three randomly selected community clinics (CCs). We found an average of 15 patients got antenatal care every month by the Komlapur CC throughout the year. About 140 patients received health services per month from Dogachiya CC. About 634 children were benefited by Saziyali CC throughout the year. By this study we came to know that average 67-75 patients were provided iron supplementations each month by Saziyali CC. All of the CCs had active referral system and online reporting system.
Conclusion: From our study we came to know that majority % of rural people are now dependent on community health care services. But most of the community clinics have many limitations regarding infrastructure, training, medicines, financial etc. So the government should take necessary steps regarding this.
Pain management and outcomes in cancer patients: comparison between oncological and palliative sets of care
Authors: Roberto Anna , Corli Oscar , Montanari Mauro , Greco Maria Teresa , Apolone Giovanni 
Published: April 2023

Background: medical oncologists and palliative care physicians have different tasks even if they play a similar role when coping with pain of their patients. In spite of this converging goal, oncologists and palliative care therapists can not have the same approach and impact in managing pain. This study analyzes how pain is treated and which outcomes derive from in 1 461 cancer patients separately cared by oncologists or palliative care physicians.
Methods: data derive from an observational, multicentre, prospective, longitudinal study carried out in 110 Italian hospitals. After inclusion, the data were recorded weekly for a 28 days period of follow-up.
Results: 876 patients (60%) were cared by oncologists and 585 (40%) by palliative care physicians. The two professional categories tended to similarly manage the drugs of WHO analgesic ladder, while rescue and adjuvant therapies were more frequently used by palliative care physicians. Opioids daily dose increased from 68.3 to 92.5 mg/day (Effect size=0.282) among oncologists and from 70.8 to 107.8 mg/day (Effect size=0.402) among palliative care physicians. The switch of opioids was applied in 12.3% and in 19.1% (p=0.1634), respectively. Pain intensity decreased in both groups but more strongly in the palliative context. The full responders patients were 50% in oncology wards and 58.9% in palliative care (p=0.0588).
Conclusions: this study indicates how much oncologists and palliative care physicians differ in managing cancer pain. The observational nature of this study reflects the natural and unaffected choice of the professionals. As intrinsic limit the study only describes their behaviors without a stringent comparative evaluation.
Risk factors and control of hospital acquired infections: a comparison between Wikipedia and scientific literature
Authors: Maggi Elisa , Magistrelli Luca , Zavattaro Marco , Beggiato Marta , Maiello Fabio , Naturale Cristina , Ragliani Margherita , Varalda Marco , Viola Maria Sofia , Concina Diego , Allara Elias , Faggiano Fabrizio , The Avogadro Wikipedia and HAI Group  
Published: April 2023

Background: nowadays Wikipedia is one of the main on-line sources of general information. It contains several items about nosocomial infections and their prevention, together of items on virtually every scientific topic.
This study aims to assess whether Wikipedia can be considered a reliable source for professional updating, concerning Healthcare-associated Infections (HAI).
Methods: Wikipedia has been searched in order to gather items on HAI. 387 items were found with a search string. The field of research was reduced at those articles (27 items) containing exhaustive information in relation to prevention of HAI. The messages contained in those articles were than compared with the recommendations of a selected guideline (NICE 2003), completed by a literature search, with the aim of testing their reliability and exhaustivity.
Results: 15 Wiki items were found and 51 messages selected. NICE guidelines contained 119 recommendations and 52 more recommendations has been found in a further literature search. 45.1% of Wikipedia’s messages were even found in the guidelines. On this percentage, 21.6% completely agreed with the messages of the guidelines, 15.7% partially agreed, 3.9% disagreed and 3.9% showed different level of evidence in different articles. Moreover, 54.9% of Wikipedia’s messages were not included in the guidelines and 84.2% of the recommendations contained in the guidelines were not present in Wikipedia.
Conclusions: Wikipedia should not be considered as a reliable source for professional updating on HAI.
Cost-effectiveness of HCV screening: a systematic review of the literature from 2007 to 2012
Authors: Camera Alessandro , Ianuale Carolina , Boccia Stefania 
Published: April 2023

Background: currently, 123-170 million people in the world are infected with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and 75% of them remain undiagnosed. HCV-positive individuals will develop Chronic Hepatitis C (CHC) or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) within 25 years in 20-30% of cases. Early detection of HCV has been demonstrated to increase quality-adjusted life years (QALY) and to improve the behaviour of the infected population. Current national policies usually recommend regular screenings only for at-risk populations. A systematic review of the recent evidence on long-term cost-effectiveness of HCV screening in different populations was performed.
Methods: resources were searched on publicly available databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, NHS EED, Cochrane Library) and Google®. Studies were considered eligible if published between 2007 and 2012 and if providing measures of incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) or incremental cost utility ratio (ICUR ) of HCV screening in terms of cost/life years gained (LYG) and cost/QALY. All the costs were converted into Euro (€) for 2011. A weighted version of the Drummond checklist was used to further assess the quality of the included studies.
Results: six articles were selected and analysed. Three U.S. and one Japanese studies suggested a positive cost-effectiveness profile of broad birth-cohort and population screening. Other studies conducted in Italy and the UK demonstrated high variability in the cost-effectiveness in different study populations. All the studies were judged of medium-high quality.
Conclusions: cost-effectiveness of HCV screening significantly varies among countries and study populations. Prevalence in the population should be one of the criteria for policy-makers for future decisions and recommendations. New Direct-Acting Antiviral agents might increase the costeffectiveness of early HCV screening. Future studies should also focus on migrants and men who have sex with men (MSM) populations.
Background: cigarette smoking is the greatest known risk factor for lung cancer, and people with different smoking status may process risk information differently. While psychological distress has been linked with smoking status, little is known about the
Authors: Mathur Sunil , Levy Marian 
Published: April 2023

Background: cigarette smoking is the greatest known risk factor for lung cancer, and people with different smoking status may process risk information differently. While psychological distress has been linked with smoking status, little is known about the impact of distress on lung cancer perception or the moderating role of physical activity and race. This study explores the association of lung cancer perception and distress and investigates the effects of physical activity and race on that association.
Methods: the study uses a national, biennial survey (the Health Information National Trends Survey) that was designed to collect nationally representative data on the American public’s need for, access to, and use of cancer-related information using a cross-sectional, complex sample survey design. Out of 5 586 participants, 1 015 were current smokers, 1 599 were former smokers, 2 877 were never smokers. Of the sample, 1 765 participants answered the lung cancer risk perception question and had no personal history of lung cancer. Statistical analysis contrasts smokers, former smokers, and never smokers to examine the association of lung cancer perception and distress and the moderating role of physical activity and race.
Results: distress and lung cancer risk perception were significantly positively associated (p value < 0.001). Respondents who were current smokers and were distressed had very high odds of agreeing that they have a somewhat high chance (odds ratio=900.8, CI: 94.23, 8 611.75; p value < 0.001) or a very high chance (odds ratio=500.44 CI: 56.53, 4 430.02, p value < 0.001) of developing lung cancer in the future as compared to not distressed never smokers. However, race and physical activity status did not significantly affect perception of risk. Perceptions of risk are important precursors of health change.
Conclusions: elevated distress level and higher perceived risk, in addition to physical activity status and race, could potentially be used to develop targeted interventions, such as tailoring quitting support for smokers at elevated distress levels, which may enhance success rate of quitting smoking and staying quit.
he association of total and abdominal obesity with Health-Related Quality of Life in a sample of Greek healthy adults
Authors: Theodoropoulou Eleni , Karteroliotis Konstantinos , Koskolou Maria , Nassis George 
Published: April 2023

Background: in the Greek population, the association between obesity and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) has not been examined so far. Thus, the purpose of the present study is to explore obesity-related predictors of HRQoL in a sample of Greek healthy adults.
Methods: a cross-sectional design was used. The sample consisted of three hundred twenty seven healthy men (N=105) and women (N=222), between the ages of 30 and 50 years (mean age=39.57 ± 6.68) who lived in Athens. Body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), and body fat (BF) were assessed. HRQoL was evaluated using the short-form 36 (SF-36) health survey, which consists of eight subscales and two health factors (physical and psychological health). Socio-demographic variables and health-related behaviours were assessed by questionnaires. Separate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between BMI, WHR, BF and SF-36 health survey subscales and factors.
Results: socio-demographic and health-related variables were moderately associated with the HRQoL subscales and factors. Furthermore, after controlling the socio-demographic variables and health-related behaviours, (a) BMI negatively predicted the physical functioning, physical role, bodily pain, and social functioning subscales, as well as the physical health factor and (b) WHR and BF negatively predicted the physical functioning subscale. However, the obesity indexes did not predict other psychological health subscales.
Conclusions: the results indicated negative associations of BMI, WHR, BF with physical functioning and health in a sample of Greek healthy adults. Such data relating total and abdominal obesity to HRQoL, as assessed by BMI, WHR, and BF, have not been reported until now in the literature. One limitation of this study was that the sample size was relatively small and the results could not be generalized to the entire Greek population.
Effectiveness of a perceptual - proprioceptive training with virtual visual feedback in healthy subjects: a pilot study
Authors: Vando Stefano , Unim Brigid , Cassarino Salvatore A. , Padulo Johnny , Masala Daniele 
Published: April 2023

Background: the aim of this pilot study was to evaluate whether proprioceptive-motor training using the Wii Balance Board (WBB) might improve postural sway in healthy subjects.
Methods: twenty-five healthy subjects were trained for six weeks (two sessions per week) with 5 “video games”: Wii Fit Plus (WFP) program. Before and after training: Basic Balance, Single-leg Balance, Agility, Stability and Motion (lower limb: right-left and both leg) were measured using the Wii Balance Board.
Results: the Wilcoxon Test showed improvements at the end of the training program compared to the baseline conditions. Basic Balance increased during the WFP (33.33%) and was associated with a 19.92% decrease in center of pressure (COP) lenght. The Single-leg Balance results incremented after the WFP (left 29.09% vs. right 47.92%) and accompanied by a decrement in COP (left 28.71% vs. right 30.45%). The values for the Agility test increased both in WFP and COP (28.57% and 58.57%, respectively). The Stability test scores increased in the WFP (66.67%) along with a consequent decrease in COP (10.53%). Finally, the Motion test values increased in the WFP (73.17%), whilst COP for this test decreased (12.02%). These results indicate that 6 weeks of virtual training produced a good adaptability. Younger participants (<20 years) demonstrated to be more responsive to dynamic stimulation with respect to those >20 years.
Conclusions: significant improvements in all participants were observed, indicating that virtual training can influence posture and balance in healthy people. Because of its characteristics of low cost and easy availability, a portable system for balance training for everyone offers the possibility to more readily measure motor skill and to gauge improvement.
Clinical implications, safety, efficacy of Recombinant Human Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factors and Pegylated Equivalent
Authors: Bolis Silvia , Cocorocchio Emilia , Corti Consuelo , Ferreri Andrés J. M. , Frungillo Niccolò , Grillo Giovanni , Salè Omode Emanuela , Tedeschi Lucilla , Zilioli Vittorio Ruggero 
Published: April 2023

A wide use of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (G-CSFs) and their pegylated equivalent is a significant step forward in the treatment of both solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Evidence-based use of these molecules resulted in more intensive treatments, safely extended to frail and elderly patients, and development of response- and comorbidity-tailored approaches. The available G-CSFs are filgrastim, and the long-acting PegFilgrastim, which are produced in E. Coli cells, and are chemically different from native human G-CSF, and lenograstim, a molecule produced in mammalian cells, with a chemical structure identical to native human G-CSF. These chemical differences produce a diverse interaction with receptors and stimulated neutrophils. For instance, lenograstim binds to receptors in the same way of endogenous ligand, and neutrophils obtained from stimulation with this G-CSF have a physiological activity profile similar to neutrophils normally generated in humans. Conversely, the different interaction between filgrastim and G-CSF receptor is more frequently associated with morphological abnormalities, reduced motility and chemotaxis and a reduced response to bacterial stimuli in induced neutrophils.
On this background, we reviewed available evidence in order to analyze the impact of these chemical and pharmacodynamic differences among G-CSF molecules on safety, particularly in healthy peripheral-blood stem-cells donors, functional qualities of inducted neutrophils, and mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells.