Search

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted all areas of daily life, including medical care. Unfortunately, to date, no specific treatments have been found for the cure of this disease, and therefore, it is advisable to implement all possible strategies to prevent infection. In this context, it is important to better define the role of all behaviors, in particular nutrition, in order to establish whether these can both prevent infection and improve the outcome of the disease in patients with COVID-19. There is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that immune response can be weakened by inadequate nutrition. Nutrition management and treatment are very important to enhance the immune response of an infected person against RNA viral infection. A complete nutritional assessment should include anthropometric, dietary, and laboratorial assessment, as well as a multidisciplinary discussion about the patient's clinical condition. In this way, it is possible to establish an individualized nutritional approach to contribute to improving clinical and nutritional prognoses. From this point of view, diet, through intake of vitamins and trace elements and maintaining adequate functioning of the intestinal barrier, can reduce the severity of the COVID-19 infection. In this study, we provide an overview of the effects of diet on COVID-19 infection in non-cancer patients. This notion needs to be further evaluated, and thus, identification, characterization, and targeting of the right nutrition principles related to the management of patients with COVID-19 are likely to improve outcomes and may prevent the infection or lead to a cure., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Epidemiological studies have shown that food is a compelling means of maintaining a state of well-being and preventing diseases. Many malignant diseases are related to nutrition, and the nutrient-organism interaction could define the balance between health and disease. Nutrients and dietary components influence epigenetic phenomena and modify drug response so that food-organism interactions may influence individual predisposition to disease and its potential therapeutic response., Aims: In this review, we highlighted emerging opinions and data on a large cluster of nutraceuticals, as well as functional foods and specific dietary patterns, with respect to cancer, including breast, pancreas, prostate, and colorectal. Only those nutraceuticals and nutritional supplements yielding sufficient and convincing data have been reported in this review; molecules with inconclusive clinical evidence will not be discussed., Conclusion: Growing and accumulating evidence is validating the use of nutraceuticals in cancer settings. However, a knowledge gap remains in terms of causal evidence for several compounds where a window for further clinical studies is left., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

The discovery of the vaccination technique was revealed by Edward Jenner in 1796, which represented the first scientific attempt to control an infectious disease by vaccines, followed by other important studies carried out by Pasteur and Koch, and Sabin, who developed the first technique to attenuate the virus. In recent decades, numerous scholars have begun to create dangerous theories against the effectiveness of vaccines through scientifically invalid or fraudulent studies. This critical review of the literature aims to analyze the main factors that have undermined the credibility of vaccines in the general population, disproved false information and emphasized the benefits of vaccines over the last 200 years. Unfortunately, several studies have been carried out without the proper scientific attention. The most impacting example is the study published by Andrew Wakefield in the Lancet journal who tried to correlate vaccines with the development of autism: this publication was withdrawn from the journal a few years after its publication, but the impact of incorrect scientific studies, fake news, and ambiguous healthcare policies have led to a general adverse opinion about the effectiveness of vaccines. The excess of uncontrolled information is a serious concern during the Coronavirus pandemic. Modern science must tackle this problem with a better willingness to communicate the clinical studies to those who cannot understand medical information. Nevertheless, a reliable science must also limit the distribution of studies that do not meet the basic criteria of methodological rigor and certainty of results in order not to incur confusion in the scientific community., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) has increasingly improved the guidelines to tackle the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) among the worldwide population. In this context, each country has introduced specific social, healthcare, political and macroeconomic measures to face COVID pandemic locally., Objective: The general aim of this comparative overview is to highlight the most significant effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the main healthcare systems. Also, we critically analyzed the macroeconomic variables and the most promising solutions to improve both healthcare system and its related risk management, taking into specific consideration the most industrialized countries., Methods: The main strategy has been built on a renewed concept of the hospital, rebuilding the old concepts of "triage" and "intensive care". Recently, COVID-19 hospitals have allowed to cater the patients affected by COVID-19., Results: The reshaping of several healthcare policies and requirements has led to several positive effects, such as the recruitment of a huge number of human resources in the healthcare systems. Nevertheless, several negative effects have also impacted the communities mostly subjected to infections., Conclusion: Undoubtedly, the national healthcare systems have somehow addressed the people's needs, trying not to neglect the social, healthcare, economic and political aspects. In our overview, we have reported how the different actions taken in the last months, have resulted in different outcomes., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Dysbiosis is related to changes in the composition and behaviour of intestinal microbiota, which may contribute to an age-related decline in metabolic and immune system functioning (immune-senescence)., Objective: The microbiota-targeted dietary and probiotic interventions have been shown to favorably affect the host health by an enhancement of antioxidant activity, improving immune homeostasis, suppression of chronic inflammation, regulation of metabolism and prevention of insulin resistance., Results: In our study, the use of specific probiotics strains improved the serum concentration of glycemic markers, thereby promoting better overall health., Conclusion: Probiotics may help correct defects in the gut microbial environment improving metabolic parameters, such as blood sugar levels, glycosylated hemoglobin and a decrease in body weight., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

The current treatment and prevention procedures of oral disorders follow a very targeted approach considering mouth and its structures as a system that is completely independent, than the rest of the body. The main therapeutic approach is to keep the levels of oral bacteria and hygiene in an acceptable range compatible with oral-mouth health, completely separated from systemic microbial homeostasis (eubiosis vs dysbiosis). This can negatively impact the diagnosis of a more complex systemic disease and its progression. Dysbiosis occurs as a consequence of imbalance in oral and gut microbiota which leads to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease, as reported in current literature. Likewise, there is a need to highlight and develop a novel philosophical approach in the treatments for oral diseases that will necessarily involve nonconventional approaches., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), which include Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are described as a chronic inflammation of the small intestine and colon, caused by a dysregulated immune response to host intestinal microbiota in genetically susceptible subjects., Objective: The aim of this study was to compare probiotic therapy versus placebo in Oxidative Stress Values and clinical features in patients affected by IBD., Method: Forty (40) patients previously diagnosed for IBD were recruited and randomized to receive probiotics (test group, n=20) or placebo (control group, n=20) administered for 90 days. Subjects in both the groups were assessed for overall oxidant ability (d-ROMs test) and for the antioxidant response (BAP test): data were reported at baseline, after 1 and 3 months. Additional data from anamnesis and haematological investigation were also reported during the study., Results: d-ROM assay clearly showed that the values observed in the test group were significantly improved, leading to oxidative stress values which are not pathological. The test group showed increasing BAP values, thus confirming the overall improvements of patients 'health following administration of probiotics., Conclusion: Oral administration of the specific probiotics demonstrated its efficacy and safety on patients affected by IBD., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)