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Introduction: Although the understanding of several aspects of long COVID-19 syndrome is increasing, there is limited literature regarding the treatment of these signs and symptoms. The aim of our systematic review was to understand which therapies have proved effective against the symptoms of long COVID-19. Methods: A systematic search for randomized controlled or clinical trials in several databases was conducted through 15 May 2022. Specific inclusion criteria included: (1) intervention studies, either randomized controlled (RCTs) or clinical trials; (2) diagnosis of long COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization criteria; (3) presence of long COVID-19 for at least 12 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results: We initially found 1638 articles to screen. After removing 1602 works based on their title/abstract, we considered 35 full texts, and among them, two intervention studies were finally included. The first RCT focused on the greater improvement of treatment combining olfactory rehabilitation with oral supplementation with Palmitoylethanolamide and Luteolin in patients with olfactory dysfunction after COVID-19. The second study evaluated the positive impact of aromatherapy vs. standard care in adult females affected by fatigue. Conclusion: Our systematic review found only two intervention studies focused on patients affected by long COVID-19. More intervention studies are needed to investigate potentially positive interventions for long COVID-19 symptoms.

Recently, numerous cases of monkeypox were reported from several non-endemic countries in Europe, North America, and Oceania, suggesting an unusual and alarming public health issue, particularly considering that the disease is not directly related to human or animal travels. Attention is currently being drawn to this phenomenon since more than 70% of the global population is no longer vaccinated against smallpox. Indeed, the smallpox vaccination also confers some indirect degree of protection against other poxviruses, including monkeypox. We performed a narrative review to describe the existing literature with regard to monkeypox using the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Scopus databases. This review aims to provide updated evidence of findings on the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, management, and prevention of monkeypox, also considering the concurrent zoonotic pandemic caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

In un periodo di crisi generalizzata che colpisce tutti i settori della vita pubblica di un Paese, è bene ricordare come l'istruzione, la formazione e, più in generale, il capitale umano, contribuiscano in modo decisivo allo sviluppo socio-economico di qualsivoglia nazione. I sistemi sanitari di tutto il mondo stanno lottando per tenere il passo con i cambiamenti introdotti dai mutati scenari di salute, dalla crescente innovazione tecnologica, dalla globalizzazione in tutte le sue declinazioni e, man mano che diventano più complessi e costosi, finiscono con l'esprimere bisogni crescenti, che si riverberano sugli operatori sanitari. A livello globale è stato stimato un fabbisogno aggiuntivo di operatori sanitari pari a 7,2 milioni di unità, dato che si aggira intorno ad 1 milione di unità per l'insieme dei Paesi Membri dell'Unione Europea, avendo quale riferimento temporale il 2020. Questi dati trovano spiegazione nell'incremento della popolazione mondiale, anche in funzione del mutamento delle condizioni socio-economiche e di vita registratesi nei Paesi ad 36 economia emergente , e nel conseguente aumento del carico di malattia, in parte spiegato dall'invecchiamento della 37 popolazione , nonché dal primato della prevalenza delle malattie croniche e cronico-degenerative sulle malattie acute, tutti fenomeni già documentati nei Paesi ad economia evoluta. Oltre ai citati fenomeni della transizione demografica e della transizione epidemiologica, nei Paesi sviluppati devono essere tenute in debito conto ulteriori variabili di significativo impattd per il sistema salute, quali, su tutte, la globalizzazione dei saperi, ·l'innovazione tecnologica in sanità, il task shifting, ovvero la ridefinizione e condivisione delle competenze tra i medici e le differenti professioni sanitarie. È su queste basi che il tema della forza lavoro in sanità ha assunto sempre maggiore rilevanza a livello globale ed Europeo, laddove, in particolare, numerose comunità, su tutte le più disagiate, hanno documentato scarsa capacità di tradurre i loro bisogni educativi e di salute in una domanda efficace per essere gestita dai rispettivi servizi, mancando l'obiettivo di integrare formazione e mercato del lavoro in ragione dell'esigenza di strutturare un'assistenza sanitaria complessa.

This publication draws from successful experiences in collaboration between public health and primary health carein five European countries (Austria, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden). Three basic conditions wereidentified that must be satisfied to effectively increase collaboration between public health and primary health careprofessionals. First, staff should be motivated by the potential to improve their working conditions and contributeto programme goals that they support and should be equipped with the knowledge and skills to implement theprogramme. Second, the organizational culture should be conducive to collaboration. This involves empoweringlocal leaders, fostering trust and camaraderie among colleagues, rewarding excellence and providing opportunitiesto develop skills in communication and collaboration. Finally, formal collaboration mechanisms, either specificto the programme at hand or – better yet – integrated within national policy frameworks, should allow smoothcommunication and participatory decision-making

Effective governance for health is a prerequisite for implementing a transformation in healthcare. Any change, in order to be fully implemented, requires a strong and transparent leadership. The recent drop in vaccine cover has led our National Health Service to implement a number of changes in health prevention and immunization strategies that make vaccination an optimal paradigm of how healthcare leadership should not remain the focus of few scientists and public health specialists, but it should be more and more widespread at all levels. In fact, as in other areas of health, the implementation of a national evidence-based planning through efficient organization and management is not sufficient to ensure good results, but it is necessary that the whole system - institutions, policy makers, healthcare professionals, media and citizens themselves - is actively involved in driving change, promoting ethical, economic and social value of vaccinations.

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 40 million people each year. The management of chronic respiratory NCDs such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is particularly critical in Italy, where they are widespread and represent a heavy burden on healthcare resources. It is thus important to redefine the role and responsibility of respiratory specialists and their scientific societies, together with that of the whole healthcare system, in order to create a sustainable management of COPD, which could become a model for other chronic respiratory conditions. Methods: These issues were divided into four main topics (Training, Organization, Responsibilities, and Sustainability) and discussed at a Consensus Conference promoted by the Research Center of the Italian Respiratory Society held in Rome, Italy, 3–4 November 2016. Results and conclusions: Regarding training, important inadequacies emerged regarding specialist training - both the duration of practical training courses and teaching about chronic diseases like COPD. A better integration between university and teaching hospitals would improve the quality of specialization. A better organizational integration between hospital and specialists/general practitioners (GPs) in the local community is essential to improve the diagnostic and therapeutic pathways for chronic respiratory patients. Improving the care pathways is the joint responsibility of respiratory specialists, GPs, patients and their caregivers, and the healthcare system. The sustainability of the entire system depends on a better organization of the diagnostic-therapeutic pathways, in which also other stakeholders such as pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies can play an important role.

The demographic and epidemiological transitions resulted in a pressing need to reformulate the health workforce demand and to revise pre-and post-graduate training to prepare the medical profiles to meet the new health needs focused on chronic diseases. The Italian Junior Doctors Association and the Giotto Movement carried out a web survey to identify the motivational aspects and the level of satisfaction of Italian junior doctors regarding knowledge and skills acquired after attending the General Practitioners’ specific training (GP-ST). Three-hundred-forty-seven General Practitioners (GPs), 302 trainees and 45 newly qualified trainees answered a web questionnaire. Significant differences (p-value= 0.018) were documented between the two groups regarding the level of satisfaction on the GP-ST. The analysis by geographic macro-areas of the answers given by the 302 trainees showed a heterogeneous level of overall satisfaction (p-value= 0.005). In conclusion, the evidence provided by this cross-sectional study support the proposal to evolve the GP-ST regional courses into general practice and primary care specialization schools.

The cross-sectional study has been based on the implementation of the Obstetric Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (OAEP) in seven hospitals to determine inappropriate hospital admissions and days of stay. The outcomes were: inappropriateness of admission and "percentage of inappropriateness" for one hospitalization. A total number of 2196 clinical records were reviewed. The mean percentage of inappropriateness for hospitalization was 22%. The percentage of inappropriateness for the first 10 d of hospitalization peaked in correspondence of the fourth (42%). The logistic regression model on inappropriated admission reported that emergency admission was a protective factor (OR = 0.4) and to be hospitalized in wards with ≥30 beds risk factor (OR = 5.12). The second linear model on "percentage of inappropriateness" showed that inappropriated admission and wards with ≥30 beds increased the percentage (p < 0.001); whereas the admission in Teaching Hospitals was inversely associated (p < 0.001). The present study suggests that the percentage of inappropriate admission depends especially on the inappropriate admission and the large number of beds in obstetric wards. This probably indicates that management of big hospitals, which is very complex, needs improving the processes of support and coordination of health professionals. The OAEP tool seems to be an useful instrument for the decision-makers to monitor and manage the obstetric wards. © 2014 Informa UK Ltd. All rights reserved.