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This study analyzed data on the sources and the level of Italians' awareness on the risk of infection by SARS-CoV-2 at the human-animal interface. Data were collected through a survey-type investigation on a representative sample of the Italian population. Forty-five percent of the interviewees were aware that companion animals could be infected by SARS-CoV-2. However, 29.8% were familiar with preventive measures to adopt to avoid viral transmission between infected humans and companion animals, and only 20.7% knew which companion animals could be at risk of infection. Higher awareness regarding the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission between animals and humans (51.7%) and the measures to prevent it (33.3%) was detected among companion animals' owners. Notably, 40.4% of interviewees were not informed at all. Television broadcasts (26.4%) represented the main source of information, while only 3.5% of the interviewees relied on veterinarians, of which 31.9% considered this source of information as the most trustworthy. Overall, 72.4% of Italians recognized that the communication campaign on COVID-19 and companion animals was inadequate. This survey highlights the need for increasing the public awareness of the risk of companion animals being infected with SARS-CoV-2 and the involvement of professionals in the public communication on zoonoses.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, science has been prominently featured in institutional communication and political agendas as never before. Governments substantially relied on scientific experts to analyze pandemic trends, develop anti-COVID-19 vaccines and adopt containment strategies. In this paper, we analyze speeches by three political leaders-Boris Johnson (Prime Minister, UK), Sergio Mattarella (President of the Republic, Italy), and Ursula von der Leyen (President, European Commission)-between February 20, 2020, and February 20, 2022, to identify how science was addressed and framed. The results of the quantitative and qualitative exploration of the speeches highlight three main ways in which political leaders view science: a national pride narrative-i.e., science as an instrument and indicator of national pride and international standing of the country; an ethical narrative-i.e., science as an agent of social growth; an integration narrative-i.e., science as a driving force of both European integration and stronger collaboration between knowledge production and industry. The predominant narrative varies in relation to the political leaders' different institutional contexts and roles., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Loner et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Objectives: Vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 throughout the world are not only a major organisational challenge, but also a communication and social challenge. Recent data from several countries show that a relevant proportion of citizens either do not plan to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or would rather postpone their vaccination. We argue that such attitudes are not the result of generalised scepticism about vaccination, nor of generalised distrust in science. Methods: We analysed data from three survey waves on attitudes to vaccination against COVID-19 conducted in Italy in October 2020, January 2021, and May 2021 in the context of the Science in Society Monitor. Results: Positive evaluations of experts' communication and trust in their contribution-as well as in that of health institutions, local authorities, and healthcare workers-play a key role in understanding the willingness to be vaccinated. Conclusion: Relevant implications can be drawn in terms of communication efforts and institutional strategies that are essential to build effective and inclusive vaccination campaigns., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Bucchi, Fattorini and Saracino.)

The paper presents the results of a quantitative analysis of speeches by Nobel laureates in the sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Medicine) at the Prize gala dinner throughout the whole history of the Prize, 1901-2018. The results outline key themes and historical trends. A dominant theme, common to most speeches, is the exaltation of science as a profession by the laureate. Since the 1970s, especially in chemistry, this element becomes more domain-specific and less related to science in general. One could speculate whether this happens chiefly in chemistry because its area of activity has been perceived to be at risk of erosion from competing fields (e.g. physics, biology). Over time, speeches become more technical, less ceremonial and more lecture-oriented. Emphasis on broad, beneficial impact of science for humanity and mankind (as emphasised in Nobel's will) is more present in laureates' speeches during the first half of the XXth century, while its relevance clearly declines during the last decades. Politics and its relationship with science is also a relevant topic in Nobel speeches. Particularly between the two World Wars, science is seen as terrain where nationalistic stances and fights among nations could actually find a context for peaceful competition and even cooperation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Inspecting or transforming the position of Arabic numbers in mental space helps everyday mathematical calculations. Nonetheless the neural and functional bases of this ability are poorly understood. Here we show that imagining the position of Arabic numbers on a horizontal mental number line speeds up the detection of targets appearing at corresponding positions in visual space. No similar advantage is found when numbers are merely perceived or classified according to their magnitude. Imagery enhanced electrophysiological activity in the extrastriate cortex contralateral to the imagined number position. Speeded detection of targets that were spatially congruent with the imagined number position was matched with enhanced C1 responses in primary visual cortex. In contrast, imagery had no effect on later target-related responses that are usually modulated by spatial attention. These results shed new light on the mechanisms that evoke sensory-like spatial representations of Arabic numbers in everyday mental computations., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aim: Continence results from a complex interplay between anal canal (AC) muscles and sensorimotor feedback mechanisms. The passive ability of the AC to withstand opening pressure - its compliance - has recently been shown to correlate with continence. A functional lumen imaging probe (FLIP) is used to assess AC compliance, although it provides no anatomical information. Therefore, assessment of the compliance specific anatomical structures has not been possible, and the anatomical position of critical functional zones remains unknown. In addition, the FLIP technique assumes a circular orifice cross-section, which has not been shown for the AC. To address these shortcomings, a technique combining FLIP with a medical imaging modality is needed., Method: We implemented a new research method (MR-FLIP) that combines FLIP with MR imaging. Twenty healthy volunteers underwent MR-FLIP and conventional FLIP assessment. MR-FLIP was validated by comparison with FLIP results. Anatomical markers were identified, and the cross-sectional shape of the orifice was investigated., Results: MR-FLIP provides compliance measurements identical to those obtained by conventional FLIP. Anatomical analysis revealed that the least compliant AC zone was located at the proximal end of the external anal sphincter (EAS). The cross-sectional shape of the AC was found to deviate only slightly from circularity in healthy volunteers., Conclusion: The proposed method is equivalent to classical FLIP. It establishes for the first time direct mapping between local tissue compliance and anatomical structure, which is key to gaining novel insights into (in)continence. In addition, MR-FLIP provides a tool for better understanding conventional FLIP measurements in the AC by quantifying its limitations and assumptions., (Colorectal Disease © 2016 The Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland.)

Fecal incontinence describes the involuntary loss of bowel content, which is responsible for stigmatization and social exclusion. It affects about 45% of retirement home residents and overall more than 12% of the adult population. Severe fecal incontinence can be treated by the implantation of an artificial sphincter. Currently available implants, however, are not part of everyday surgery due to long-term re-operation rates of 95% and definitive explantation rates of 40%. Such figures suggest that the implants fail to reproduce the capabilities of the natural sphincter. This article reviews the artificial sphincters on the market and under development, presents their physical principles of operation and critically analyzes their performance. We highlight the geometrical and mechanical parameters crucial for the design of an artificial fecal sphincter and propose more advanced mechanisms of action for a biomimetic device with sensory feedback. Dielectric electro-active polymer actuators are especially attractive because of their versatility, response time, reaction forces, and energy consumption. The availability of such technology will enable fast pressure adaption comparable to the natural feedback mechanism, so that tissue atrophy and erosion can be avoided while maintaining continence during daily activities.

The relationship between number and space representation is still one of the most debated topics in studies of mathematical cognition. Here we offer a concise review of two important behavioral effects that have pointed out the use of a spatially left-to-right oriented mental number line (MNL) in healthy participants: the SNARC effect and the attentional SNARC effect (Att-SNARC). Following a brief summary of seminal investigations on the introspective properties of the MNL, we review recent empirical evidence and theories on the functional origin of the SNARC effect, where upon left/right response choices faster reaction times are found for small numbers with left-side responses and for large numbers with right-side responses. Then we offer a summary of the studies that have investigated whether the mere perception of visual Arabic numbers presented at central fixation can engender spatially congruent lateral shifts of attention, ie, leftward for small numbers and rightward for large ones, ie, the Att-SNARC effect. Finally, we summarize four experiments that tested whether the Att-SNARC depends on an active rather than passive processing of centrally presented digit cues. In line with other recent studies, these experiment do not replicate the original Att-SNARC and show that the mere perception of Arabic numerals does not trigger automatic shifts of attention. These shifts are instead found when the task requires the explicit left/right spatial coding of digit cues, ie, Spatial Att-SNARC (Fattorini et al., 2015b). Nonetheless, the reliability of the Spatial Att-SNARC effect seems not as strong as that of conventional SNARC effects where left/right codes are mapped onto responses rather than directly mapped on digit cues. Comparing the magnitude of digits to a numerical reference, ie, "5," also produced a Magnitude Comparison Att-SNARC that was weaker than the spatial one. However, the reliability of this Magnitude Comparison Att-SNARC should be considered with caution because, like in a study by Zanolie and Pecher (2014), we recently failed to replicate this effect in a separate behavioral-event-related potentials study in preparation (Fattorini et al., 2015a). All together the results from the present series of experiments support the hypothesis that spatial coding is not an intrinsic part of number representation and that number-space interaction is determined by the use of stimulus- or response-related spatial codes in the task at hand., (© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

It is frequently assumed that the brain codes number magnitudes according to an inherent left-to-right spatial organization. In support of this hypothesis it has been reported that in humans, perceiving small numbers induces automatic shifts of attention toward the left side of space whereas perceiving large numbers automatically shifts attention to the right side of space (i.e., Attentional SNARC: Att-SNARC; Fischer, Castel, Dodd, & Pratt, 2003). Nonetheless, the Att-SNARC has been often not replicated and its reliability never tested. To ascertain whether the mere perception of numbers causes shifts of spatial attention or whether number-space interaction takes place at a different stage of cognitive processing, we re-assessed the consistency and reliability of the Att-SNARC and investigated its role in the production of SNARC effects in Parity Judgement (PJ) and Magnitude Comparison (MC) tasks. In a first study in 60 participants, we found no Att-SNARC, despite finding strong PJ- and MC-SNARC effects. No correlation was present between the Att-SNARC and the SNARC. Split-half tests showed no reliability of the Att-SNARC and high reliability of the PJ- and MC-SNARC. In a second study, we re-assessed the Att-SNARC and tested its direct influence on a MC-SNARC task with laterally presented targets. No Att-SNARC and no influence of the Att-SNARC on the MC-SNARC were found. Also in this case, the SNARC was reliable whereas the Att-SNARC task was not. Finally, in a third study we observed a significant Att-SNARC when participants were asked to recall the position occupied on a ruler by the numbers presented in each trial: however the Att-SNARC task was not reliable. These results show that perceiving numbers does not cause automatic shifts of spatial attention and that whenever present, these shifts do not modulate the SNARC. The same results suggest that numbers have no inherent mental left-to-right organization and that, whenever present, this organization can have both response-related and strategically driven memory-related origins. Nonetheless, response-related factors generate more reliable and stable spatial representations of numbers., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To examine the immune response to job strain and insecurity of 88 men working in a university, divided according to age and type of employment., Methods: Anxiety, job strain, job insecurity and subjective symptoms were measured by questionnaires. Blood NK cytotoxic activity was determined by an in vitro method and lymphocyte subpopulations by flow-cytometry analysis., Results: Employees (over 40 years old) in a library showed higher values of job strain, anxiety and subjective symptoms and lower blood NK activity than the controls. The young employees with temporary employment showed high job insecurity and reduced blood NK activity, while the young sanitary staff with temporary position showed normal immune response. NK cytotoxic activity of the recruited men was negatively correlated with anxiety, work load and job insecurity., Conclusions: Not only anxiety and depression but also high levels of job strain and/or insecurity may affect the health status by reducing blood NK activity.

The object of this study is to analyse job stress and insecurity and the perception of symptoms (health status) of 374 teachers (30 women and 74 men) with stable or temporary employment in schools in Pescara, a town in Central Italy. Job strain and job insecurity were analysed by an Italian version of the Karasek?s questionnaire, the perception of the health status by a 12 item test, and state and trait anxiety by STAI I and STAI II. There were no significant differences depending on the type of school. The young women with temporary contracts showed only higher levels of job insecurity than the women with stable employment, while those over 50 years old also showed more elevated values of job strain. Men with temporary contracts showed higher levels of both job insecurity and state and trait anxiety. The following highly significant correlations were observed: a) in women, job strain and perception of symptoms vs STAI I and STAI II (p<0.001); b) in men, job strain, job insecurity and perception of symptoms vs STAI II; job strain vs perception of symptoms as well as a negative correlation of decision latitude vs job insecurity, STAI I and STAI II (p<0.01). These results highlight differences in the perception of job insecurity between men and women. In particular, the decision latitude (skill decision + decision authority) plays an important role in men; temporary employment is mainly related to anxiety in men, while anxiety enhances the perception of poor health status mainly in women.

The board of the Thematic Section on Preventive Medicine for Health Care Workers of the Italian Society of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene (SIMLII) programmed a national conference on occupational risks of health care workers to be held in late 2009. Main topics will be: a) biohazards; b) biomechanical risk; c) psychosocial factors. Three different working groups were established to tackle critical aspects and suggest practical recommendations to occupational health professionals. Preliminary issues are presented while final results will be presented at the conference on September 2009.

The objectives of the research are to identify, through procedures and tools psychosocial investigation, appropriate measures for the improvement of health surveillance and training, in order to promote higher standards of welfare in a population of workers exposed to systematically emergency. For the survey data was used questionnaire "The fireman to work" consists of 52 items, administered anonymously. The areas of the questionnaire include: 1) structural data. 2) labor: organizational (working at the place of residence, age, role, status); 3) interpersonal relationships: interpersonal relations horizontal and vertical (colleagues, employees, above); 4) organizational climate. 5) safety, health and welfare at work. 6) habits and lifestyles. The number of questionnaires returned and the results valid for the analysis was around 50%; Also with a percentage of returns oscillating between 0% of Bologna and 100% of Padua. Therefore it was not possible to consider the questionnaires (3741) as representative of the population in question. However the study is of great importance since is the first survey of its kind carried out in our country.

This survey aims at identifying methods and procedures to prevent possible gender discrimination at the workplace. It is intended to: a) establish whether mobbing is present in the companies involved in this survey; b) verify whether the aetiology and mobbing dynamics are the same for men and women. This survey involved 887 persons in eight companies, operating in different economic sectors, and located in the VIII, IX and X Municipalities, in the south east area of Rome. The collected data seem to exclude the presence of evident psychological terrorism, even though there can be sound reasons for it to develop: bad job organization, lack of personnel policy and an increase in the stress level, all of which are the most common elements paving the way for mobbing. The results of the survey reveal a highly dysfunctional working situation even though they do not comply with the characteristic criteria of psychological violence, known as mobbing. In Italy, a major organizational restructuring (privatisation, mergers, etc), as well as the introduction of new types of jobs, has contributed to turn mobbing from an occasional phenomenon into a social problem about which everyone is concerned (anti-mobbing centres, specialized clinics, bills, etc). This study focuses on some aspects of the organizational work structure which would otherwise usually be disregarded at the risk of causing uneasiness and/or stress pathologies.

The aim of this study is the immune response of the staff of a university and a museum (referent group). 46 women and 40 men with similar mean age (44 years) were investigated. The first group of women (A) worked in libraries, B in offices in contact with students, C as secretaries and D in a museum. One group of men (E) was composed of employees of the university, one worked in a library temporarily located underground (F) and the last group (G) in a museum. STAI I and II (state and trait anxiety, respectively), and occupational stress were measured by questionnaires. Blood samples were collected for determining NK cytotoxic activity vs human erythroleukaemia cells and the lymphocyte subsets CD45+, CD45+-CD3+, CD45+-CD3+-CD4+, CD45+-CD3+-CD8+, CD45+-CD3-CD8+, CD3+-CD16+-56+ and CD3+-CD19+. Group B showed significantly higher score of occupational stress and STAI I (but not of STAI II) than the other groups of women. Group F of men showed higher levels of occupational stress and both STAI I and II than groups E and G. Group B of women and F of men also showed significantly lower values of blood cytotoxic activity. The scores of STAI I and II were negatively correlated with the cytotoxic activity expressed per ml of blood and/or total lymphocytes. and/or NK CD45+-CD16+-CD56+ cells. In conclusion, this study shows that occupational stress may increase anxiety which is negatively correlated with blood cytotoxic activity. This is a useful tool for determining the health effects of stress.

The aim of the study is to develop and validate a questionnaire able to evaluate the risk of mobbing at the workplace. A multiple-choice questionnaire has been developed which contains, among the different items, only one revealing a mobbing situation. The questionnaire has been administered to two groups (group A--243 subjects in a mobbing situation and group B--63 subjects without exposure to mobbing) and the differences in the scores obtained have been analysed. The questionnaire has proved to be valid and reliable. The results show that the presence of five mobbing actions is sufficient to define the workplace situation as potentially at risk for mobbing. The study reveals some limits in the selection of the two samples thus needing some adjustment. However, the questionnaire, also in the present form, can be considered a tool able to detect the mobbing situations.

A monotonous, automated task of prolonged duration performed on a computer is likely to increase the propensity to sleep. Present research shows the physiological effect is not perceived by the subjects in terms of drowsiness or a change of mood. This augments the risk of this effect causing unforeseeable bouts of sleep during the performance of the task.

A multidisciplinary investigation was performed on 173 reporters (53 men and 20 women) of a newspaper. The microclimate and illumination conditions of the main seat, in which the use of VDT was beginning, were satisfactory, although not all the instruments were correctly adjusted. A very low percentage of reporters working in the main center was suffering from arterial hypertension indicating the presence of the "healthy worker effect". The values of plasma cortisol and arterial blood pressure of 10 reporters of the main seat, except two cases, changed normally during the evening hours. It is to point out that among the reporters there was significant correlation between spondylosis and astigmatism. The psychological investigation evidenced that the reporters were aggressive, eager of success and with constant attention. The EMG biofeedback demonstrated in the reporters with a more prolonged period of employment nervous tension and difficulty in relaxing. Particularly, in the reporters of the main center, the Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory was more altered than in those of the peripheral seats.